Major Companies Pile On Twitter Advertising Pause Following Elon Musk's Takeover

General Mills and Audi recently stated that they are pausing advertising on Twitter following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform. Musk responded to advertisers in general stopping their ad buys, saying the company has a “massive drop in revenue,” adding that he feels the drop is “Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.”

CBS News reports that General Mills and Audi confirmed on Thursday that they will be pausing advertising on Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover of the firm. Kelsey Roemhildt, a spokesperson for General Mills, told CNN in a statement: “We have paused advertising on Twitter. As always, we will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend.”

Boxes of General Mills Lucky Charms cereal sit on display in a market in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Boxes of General Mills Lucky Charms cereal sit on display in a market (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

In a separate statement, Audi said: “We have currently paused paid support on Twitter and will continue to evaluate the situation.” The Wall Street Journal also stated that Pfizer and Mondalez are pausing ads on the platform, but the companies did not respond to a request for comment.

Hannibal Hanschke-Pool/Getty Images/BBN Edit)

Elon Musk took to his own platform to respond to the move by major advertisers:

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

General Motors previously said that it would pause paying for advertising on Twitter while it monitors the company’s “new direction.” Toyota, another Tesla competitor, said that it is “in discussions with key stakeholders and monitoring the situation” on Twitter.

Interpublic Group, the ad-buying firm which works with consumer brands such as Unilever and Coca Cola, suggested this week that its clients halt advertising on the platform.

Advertisers are now confronting concerns about how Musk will alter Twitter, a company considered weak in the digital marketing sector despite its outsized political and journalistic power, following months of uncertainty about whether Musk would acquire it. Musk has stated that he hopes to reconsider Twitter’s content regulation policies, but has since held a meeting with the NAACP and ADL, amongst other leftist pressure groups.