Elon Musk has warned advertisers who are canceling purchases on Twitter amid fear of boycotts from activists that they may soon face a “thermonuclear name and shame.”
In a pair of tweets on Friday, Musk claimed Twitter suffered a “massive drop in revenue” after he purchased the platform and stepped in as CEO just seven days ago “due to activist groups pressuring advertisers” to discontinue ad purchases.
Responding to a user’s request to “name and shame the advertisers who are succumbing to the advertiser boycotts,” Musk affirmed he would soon be taking action.
“A thermonuclear name and shame is exactly what will happen if this continues,” he ambiguously warned.
The tweet follows an open letter a group of more than 40 organizations, including the NAACP and GLAAD, sent calling on Twitter’s top 20 largest advertisers to stop financing the platform, as they claim Musk’s proposed changes will stifle their voices or will allow hate, harassment, or fake content to thrive.
Thank you.
A thermonuclear name & shame is exactly what will happen if this continues.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
The letter argues Musk’s ownership of Twitter has allowed the platform to be “inundated with hate and disinformation.”
“We know that brand safety is of the utmost importance to you,” the letter reads. “As such, you also have a moral and civic obligation to take a stand against the degradation of one of the world’s most influential communications platforms, and to hold Musk to the pledge he made to you to ensure that Twitter is a welcoming and civil place for everyone.”
Musk has repeatedly denied these claims and has defended his decision to roll back content moderation to promote free speech.
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
He has also gone as far as saying his intention to do so “remains absolutely unchanged” in the face of current protests.
“Twitter will not censor accurate information about anything,” he tweeted Friday.
Activists also allege Musk’s proposal of an $8 monthly subscription for user verification could open the door for impersonation or being forced to pay the fee to reach desired audiences.
you get what you pay for
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
Musk wrote his own letter to same advertisers, namely to the chief executives of Amazon, Anheuser-Busch, Apple, Capital One, CBS, CenturyLink, Coca-Cola, Comcast, Best Buy, Disney, Google, HBO, IBM, Merck, Meta, Mondelez International, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Verizon.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” he wrote. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide out society.”
Being attacked by both right & left simultaneously is a good sign
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
Musk recognized he could fail in his endeavor to create such a forum, but said he would not allow Twitter to “become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.”
Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022
In a recent poll to his followers, Musk asked whether advertisers should support “freedom of speech” or “political correctness.”
A whopping 78.3% of the polls over 2.75 million participants said advertisers should continue to support the platform as it promotes free speech.
Only 21.7% said advertisers should cave to political correctness.
Musk has been ridiculed by his critics after each change he makes to the Twitter company or the social media platform, including his announcement of an $8 monthly subscription service to keep user verification and the decision to fire most of the company’s staff.