Elon Musk on Friday accused activist groups of “trying to destroy free speech in America” with their pressure tactics to drive advertisers away from Twitter after he took control of the social media company. Musk said Twitter has seen a “massive drop in revenue.” The statement comes as Twitter is set to layoff a reported 50 percent of staff. Musk caused controversy this week by proposing verified users pay a nominal fee for the privilege.
Last week Musk pulled a dad joke troll on his takeover of Twitter.
Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022
“Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.”
Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.
Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
Last week General Motors announced a suspension of advertising. This week other companies including General Mills, Pfizer, Mondelez and Audi announced suspension of advertising on Twitter.
The Guardian provided context for Twitter’s advertising (excerpt):
About 90% of Twitter’s revenue comes from advertisers but it’s far from the biggest platform that advertisers turn to for digital marketing. Google, Amazon and Meta account for about 75% of digital ads, with all other platforms combined making up the other 25%.
Twitter will account for 0.9% of worldwide digital ad spending in 2022, according to projections by Insider Intelligence. Meta will account for 21.4% in 2022.
Twitter has lost most of its top executives in the past week, including the one in charge of advertising sales.
Musk commiserated with Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton over the state of free speech.
Fitton tweeted, “.@ElonMusk , Left have countless billions, government entities, media and NGO’s focused like a laser on ensuring Big Tech and government suppress and censor on-line speech. Conservatives have a few social media accounts and a handful of groups fighting for on-line free speech…”
Musk replied Friday morning, “That assessment is more accurate than most people realize”
That assessment is more accurate than most people realize
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
Musk commented on the pay-to-verify proposal by agreeing that it changes the dynamic on Twitter from users being the product to Twitter being the product.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 3, 2022
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