Disney Pauses All Advertising on X aka Twitter
On Friday, November 18th, The Walt Disney Company joined a long list of advertisers who have paused all advertising on X, the social media service formerly known as Twitter.
Here’s what just happened.
The Fall of Twitter
In early 2022, billionaire investor Elon Musk mentioned an aspirational goal to purchase the popular Twitter platform.
Several companies have pondered the idea over the years, including Disney.
In CEO Bob Iger’s autobiography, The Ride of a Lifetime, he discussed an evaluation of Disney acquiring the service.
In Iger’s own words, he chose not to do so because “The troubles were greater than I wanted to take on, greater than I thought it was responsible for us to take on.”
With the benefit of hindsight, Musk should have consulted with Iger before making a similar mistake.
On April 14th, 2022, Musk made a firm offer of $43 billion for Twitter, one that gave him immediate buyer’s remorse.
The billionaire attempted to abandon the transaction, leading Twitter to sue.
Eventually, the legal pressure for the pending litigation forced Musk to reconsider.
On October 27th, 2022, Musk purchased Twitter, which he would eventually re-brand as X.
At the time of the 2022 purchase, Musk paid $44 billion, which was actually a bit higher than the original agreement he had tried to negate.
Since then, well, you probably know that X has lost a substantial amount of its value.
According to Bloomberg and other sources, Twitter’s value has collapsed to $19 billion.
Photo: Twitter
Desperate for new revenue streams, Musk has turned to advertising of any form.
Simultaneously, the billionaire has offered advertising discounts to skeptical corporations to maintain their business.
Why are they skeptical? Let’s just say several mishaps have befallen the social media platform under Musk’s leadership.
The latest one is apparently a bridge too far.
Why Disney Has Suspended Its Advertising on X
I won’t go into detail regarding the distasteful aspects of this story.
However, Musk has made comments that many deem indefensible.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Many corporations didn’t find his actions acceptable, even after his attempted clarification.
According to three journalists at the New York Times, Disney joined many other major corporations in pausing advertising on X.
News: Disney has paused ad spending on X, joining Apple and others … Advertisers Flee X as Outcry Grows Over Musk’s Endorsement of Antisemitic Post @https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/technology/elon-musk-twitter-x-advertisers.html?smid=tw-share
— Brooks Barnes (@brooksbarnesNYT) November 17, 2023
I must stress that pausing isn’t the same as canceling advertising permanently. Still, here’s the list of major corporations that just stopped spending advertising money on X:
- Apple
- Comcast
- Disney
- The European Commission
- IBM
- Lionsgate
- NBCUniversal
- Paramount Global
- Sony Pictures
- Warner Bros. Discovery
These corporations represent many of the highest-paying advertisers on X. So, one would expect the service to walk back some of its actions.
Musk has taken…a different approach. His reply includes this: “Many of the largest advertisers are the greatest oppressors of your right to free speech.”
The less-than-conciliatory tone of the message suggests that the corporations won’t be in a rush to un-pause their advertising.
Then again, nothing surprises me in capitalism. We’ll all have to wait and see what happens next.
For Disney’s part, as a family brand, it has that much more reason to avoid anything inflammatory, though.
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