2023-12-07 00:07:00
The verbal attack of Elon Musk to advertisers who rejected X (formerly Twitter) threatens to further deepen the social network’s crisis. The turbulence reached such a point that the tycoon hinted at the possible disappearance of the platform, just a year following taking control.
“If someone is going to try to blackmail me with , they should go to hell”a visibly furious Musk told an interviewer in New York in front of an audience of America’s business elite this week.
Musk attacked advertisers who They had abandoned their platform following Media Matters, a left-wing media watchdog group, warned big companies that their ads were running without regard to posts of “neo-Nazi” content.
Walmart was the latest to join the exodus on Fridayfollowing in the footsteps of IBM, Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Lionsgate and others.
The latest controversy erupted earlier this month when Musk stated in a tweet that exposed an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory as the “absolute truth”.
Musk apologized for his tweet and even traveled to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahubut on Wednesday he aimed his ire directly at advertisers.
“You don’t have to be a social media expert to know that publicly and personally attacking the people at the companies that pay X’s bills won’t be good for business,” said analyst Jasmine Enberg of Insider Intelligence.
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“Most advertiser boycotts of social media companies, including X, have been short-lived. There is a possibility that it will last longer.“he added.
Musk gave an ultimatum and hinted that X’s survival might be at stake.
“What this boycott is going to do is kill the company”Musk said.
“Everyone will know” that the advertisers were responsible, he added angrily.
Is the end of X approaching?
Even before the last crisis, Insider Intelligence It forecast a 54% contraction in sales to $1.9 billion this year.
“The exodus on X might accelerate if Musk does not play well in the sandbox”said Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities.
According to data provided to the news agency AFP by market data analysis company SensorTower, in October 2022 up to half of the social network’s top 100 US advertisers had already stopped spending.
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But by eliminating True North Social.
Advertisers can also choose to left without an equivalent alternative.
The new platform Threads de Meta and other upstarts have yet to prove themselves “worthy adversaries” for the time being, Landrum argued.
Analyst Enberg insisted that “X is not an essential platform for many advertisersso retiring temporarily tends to be a pretty easy decision.”
Privately owned X does not publish official figures, but all estimates point to a significant drop in the number of users.
SensorTower encrypts the annual drop by 45% for monthly users at the beginning of the fourth quartercompared to the same period last year.
Added to this is the unlinking dozens of closely followed accounts, including major brands such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, JPMorgan Bank and Starbucksas well as many celebrities and media personalities who have stopped or reduced their use.
The big corporate names haven’t posted any content for weeks, when they used to be around every day.
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None of the dozens of companies contacted by AFP responded to requests for comment.
Under normal conditions, Twitter or X “was always much bigger than its spend,” Enberg clarified.
It was a place important for brands and companies to connect with consumers and clients“, said.
Even following Musk reduced his staff by two-thirds, X still has around 2,000 employees and incurs substantial fixed costs, such as data servers and real estate.
Another threat is the colossal debt incurred by Musk for its acquisition, but which is now supported by X, who must face a payment of more than a billion dollars each year.
In his tense interview on Wednesday, Musk hinted that he would not come to the rescue if the coffers ran out, even if he had ample means to do so.
CA / AFP / GI
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