Major advertisers in the “censorship cartel” set to return to Elon Musk’s X as they seek to curry favor with Trump

11/19/2024 / By Arsenio Toledo

Major advertisers who left X, formerly Twitter, following tech billionaire Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media platform are slated to return as they now seek to curry favor with Musk and President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

For the past few months, Musk has made his support for Trump clear under the belief that the policies of a second Trump administration regarding the economy and Big Tech could boost the flagging revenues of X. It seems the tech billionaire’s bets have paid off, and some major marketers are poised to return to the platform. (Related: Trump appoints Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy to head new DOGE “Manhattan Project” to optimize “government efficiency.”)

The initial advertiser boycott of the platform had a tremendous effect. Since Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of X, investor estimates suggest the platform’s current valuation is less than $10 billion.

Major companies like Apple, Disney and IBM claimed their reason for boycotting advertising spending on the platform related to Musk stripping back moderation on X. Now, despite not much changing with X’s policies, some of these same companies are returning.

A report from AdWeek notes that Comcast, Disney, IBM, Lionsgate and Warner Bros. Discovery are slowly raising ad spending on X this year and, by next year, are expected to massively increase spending following Trump’s inauguration.

Data from MediaRadar showed that Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery both spent around $1.1 to slightly under $1.5 million in ad spending this year. Disney spent around $500,000, Lionsgate spent less than $230,000 and IBM only allocated around $2,000 in ad spending on X.

Advertisers coming back to X to gain “political leverage”

Lou Paskalis, chief executive of the marketing consultancy firm AJL Advisory and a former media executive for Bank of America, believes many of the companies who have announced their intention to come back to X will ramp up spending to serve as “political leverage” for possible future government partnerships and contracts. He added that these corporations are likely seeking to get in the “good graces of Elon” now that Trump has given him a wide remit as the co-head of the new Department of Government Efficiency.

“It could be seen as an official channel for White House communications,” said one advertising agency chief who spoke with the Financial Times, adding that Trump’s victory has given Musk more “legitimacy” in the eyes of brands now that he may have power over sectors that could face new regulatory curbs under a Trump White House.

“X’s owner now has the ear of the president-elect, a man who has a long history of helping his friends and punishing his enemies,” said Max Willens, a senior analyst with market research firm Emarketer. “Sending at least a trickle of ad spending toward X may be seen as good for business, albeit in an indirect way.”

Learn more about Musk, X and his other business ventures at ElonMuskWatch.com.

Watch this clip from Fox News discussing the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy as its co-heads.

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