Elon Musk (yet another authoritarian)

[Farfromgeneva]

Elon seems to have workplace pekker problems:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/12/2417 ... ationships

"Elon Musk had a sexual relationship with a former SpaceX intern, who he later hired onto his executive team, according to The Wall Street Journal. He also had a sexual relationship with a second employee. And a third woman alleged that Musk asked her several times to have his children; she refused. He then denied her a raise and complained about her performance.

One of the women who Musk had a sexual relationship also drew the ire of SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who accused her of having an affair with Shotwell’s husband. When the woman reported this to HR, HR told Shotwell. “Shotwell told the HR department at SpaceX that she wanted the woman removed from the office of the chief executive,” The Wall Street Journal wrote.

The Journal’s article cites text messages, emails, and other documents. It is based on interviews with more than 48 people, including friends and family members of the women, as well as former employees.

Musk didn’t reply to WSJ’s requests for comment. Shotwell said the WSJ’s request for comment “paint[s] a completely misleading narrative” of what working for SpaceX is like, and that the WSJ story doesn’t reflect SpaceX’s culture. She also said that SpaceX investigates all harassment complaints and responds appropriately.

In 2021, five former SpaceX employees said there was a “culture of sexual harassment” in the company. One of those women described multiple instances of being groped. A 2022 story reported that a flight attendant on Musk’s private jet said he exposed himself and offered “to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage,” according to Business Insider. Earlier this year, a former SpaceX employee filed a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse and discrimination.

SpaceX is also being investigated by California’s civil rights agency over allegations that the company discriminates against women and retaliated against workers who raised concerns."

I do like his mgt style when it comes to hiring and allocating promotions! Legal whiners I’m Elon musk and I’ve scammed folks into thinking my ability to commercialize other folks ideas and inventions with suckers and govt money make me a genius!

[PizzaSnake]

Elon seems to have workplace pekker problems:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/12/2417 ... ationships

"Elon Musk had a sexual relationship with a former SpaceX intern, who he later hired onto his executive team, according to The Wall Street Journal. He also had a sexual relationship with a second employee. And a third woman alleged that Musk asked her several times to have his children; she refused. He then denied her a raise and complained about her performance.

One of the women who Musk had a sexual relationship also drew the ire of SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who accused her of having an affair with Shotwell’s husband. When the woman reported this to HR, HR told Shotwell. “Shotwell told the HR department at SpaceX that she wanted the woman removed from the office of the chief executive,” The Wall Street Journal wrote.

The Journal’s article cites text messages, emails, and other documents. It is based on interviews with more than 48 people, including friends and family members of the women, as well as former employees.

Musk didn’t reply to WSJ’s requests for comment. Shotwell said the WSJ’s request for comment “paint[s] a completely misleading narrative” of what working for SpaceX is like, and that the WSJ story doesn’t reflect SpaceX’s culture. She also said that SpaceX investigates all harassment complaints and responds appropriately.

In 2021, five former SpaceX employees said there was a “culture of sexual harassment” in the company. One of those women described multiple instances of being groped. A 2022 story reported that a flight attendant on Musk’s private jet said he exposed himself and offered “to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage,” according to Business Insider. Earlier this year, a former SpaceX employee filed a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse and discrimination.

SpaceX is also being investigated by California’s civil rights agency over allegations that the company discriminates against women and retaliated against workers who raised concerns."

Elon is an odious Magat.

[youthathletics]

Biden Admin going after Elon: https://x.com/WR4NYGov/status/1802667590164349002

[a fan]

Biden Admin going after Elon: https://x.com/WR4NYGov/status/1802667590164349002

Sorta leaves out what they're doing and why, YA. Gee, how come?

Obviously you know, or you wouldn't have shared it....so...what's the problem here?

[MDlaxfan76]

Biden Admin going after Elon: https://x.com/WR4NYGov/status/1802667590164349002

Which Administration SEC sued Elon first?

Oh yeah, Trump.
2018; for misleading public statements, securities fraud.

Settled, with both Tesla and Musk paying fines of $20 million each AND musk agreeing to not serve as Chairman.

He’s been violating the law again.

That darn rule of law.
Screw investors.

Wah wah “weaponization”.

Even this SCOTUS is rejecting him.

[youthathletics]

This makes more sense: https://x.com/marionawfal/status/180315 ... a82I2GssRg

He’s gaining an advantage.

[NattyBohChamps04]

This makes no sense: Elon Musk’s Neuralink forced a pregnant employee to work with herpes-infected monkeys that scratched her, lawsuit says

Sociopaths are good at taking advantage...

[jhu72]

America's biggest market for EVs is walking away from Musk.

[PizzaSnake]

America's biggest market for EVs is walking away from Musk.

Ellie isn’t too bright, is he?

SpaceX and Tesla need to drop this greasy turd.

I wouldn’t drive a Tesla if it were given to me.

[cradleandshoot]

America's biggest market for EVs is walking away from Musk.

Ellie isn’t too bright, is he?

SpaceX and Tesla need to drop this greasy turd.

I wouldn’t drive a Tesla if it were given to me.

I wouldn't drive any EV if it was given to me. I'll be driving my reliable little ICE Toyota Corolla until it's ready for the scrap yard. There is the possibility that the government will eventually ban the sale of gasoline nation wide.

[jhu72]

America's biggest market for EVs is walking away from Musk.

Ellie isn’t too bright, is he?

SpaceX and Tesla need to drop this greasy turd.

I wouldn’t drive a Tesla if it were given to me.

... some are saying he is going to shi*t can the auto portion of Tesla or sell it off. As predicted, his car manufacturing business ultimately cannot compete with real auto manufacturers. He no longer has a 50+% market share in US I have read. The battery technology portion of the company is the only real value. The big investors in Tesla seem to me to be doing a lot of spinning.

There is nothing new about this business case: little guy is first mover in a "technology" competing with established manufacturers and tries to take on the established industry, only to have the established players in the industry let him spend his cash making a market, then come in behind him and ultimately crush him with their experience and established place in the larger market. He never had a safe technology led, a barrier to market entry. Auto industry will use his batteries, or some will.

He needs to find a new "cult", oh wait, he did.

He is a bright "deal guy" (for himself), not a Henry Ford or great businessman. He is a fast talker. Him and Trump are competitors. He just acquired his competitor. Musk can't stand having someone steal his rightful attention.

PS: Biden queered the deal for Musk. Biden opened the EV market up for Musks competitors. Biden is the stupid one.

PPS: Tesla is still over valued but that will change. The saga isn't over.

[jhu72]

duplicate

[jhu72]

JD Power no longer ranks Tesla as top EV brand.

[jhu72]

These reporters should be sued for telling the truth.

[Farfromgeneva]

This isn’t good business or even good or strategy just pathetic and a joke. More resources wasted in this dirt merchant.

Elon Musk’s X Sues Advertising Coalition Over ‘Massive’ Boycott
Companies unfairly targeted the social-media platform over safety standards, according to the lawsuit; ‘we tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,’ Musk says

Aug. 6, 2024 at 6:51 pm

The boycott began in November 2022 after Musk acquired Twitter, the lawsuit said. The coalition started the boycott due to a concern that Twitter would change its content and safety standards under Musk’s leadership, according to the complaint.

At least 18 brands associated with the coalition stopped advertising on Twitter from November 2022 through December 2022, according to the lawsuit. Dozens more of the coalition’s members cut back spending on ads through 2023.

X said the coalition violated antitrust laws by having its members agree to a boycott, which X called a “coercive exercise of market power.”

The companies cited in the X lawsuit were part of the World Federation of Advertisers group, which has dozens of members. The group has an initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which pushes for safeguards to remove harmful content, such as child sexual abuse material and content promoting terrorism, so it isn’t placed next to ads from their members.

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media noted “the massive economic harm imposed on Twitter by the boycott,” the lawsuit said. “The boycott and its effects continue to this day, despite X applying brand safety standards comparable to those of its competitors.”

After acquiring the platform in 2022, Musk pledged to loosen content restrictions to encourage free speech. Outside researchers and critics have said Musk’s platform has allowed the proliferation of hateful and false content. The company has disputed such criticisms and has said it has made progress on reducing the spread of hateful content.

The World Federation of Advertisers and the other defendants didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit doesn’t resemble a typical antitrust claim, said Stephen Calkins, a law professor at Wayne State University who specializes in antitrust law.

“If people have simply switched purchasing ads from one platform to another, it’s not clear how that is going to be harming competition and ending up at higher prices,” he said.

In the complaint, X argues social-media platforms that comply with GARM’s standards are able to avoid competing on prices with X because those platforms “know that GARM-member advertisers and advertising agencies have agreed not to purchase advertising from Twitter (and now X).”

Over the last year in meetings on Capitol Hill with Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), and others, Musk complained about advertisers boycotting X and complained about Global Alliance for Responsible Media. In meetings Musk joked “GARM, it’s like HARM,” according to a person in attendance. In May, Jordan subpoenaed GARM for documents for evidence of anticonservative bias. Last month, the House Judiciary Committee, which Jordan is chairman of, published: “Garms Harm: How The World’s Biggest Brands Seek to Control Online Speech.”


Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press
The lawsuit references that report, which found that GARM may have violated antitrust laws by withholding advertising spending from social-media platforms and conservative media outlets.

Advertisers have fled X since Musk bought the platform in 2022, partially in response to Musk’s inflammatory posts. Last year, several large advertisers ditched the platform after the billionaire described an antisemitic post as “the actual truth.” At a conference, he said advertisers pulling their ads from X can “go f— yourself.”

In multiple X posts on Tuesday, Musk urged companies who have faced advertising boycotts to also file lawsuits.

“We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,” Musk said on X.

Musk has gotten more litigious in recent months. On Monday, he revived his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI. X has sued watchdog group Media Matters for America, and is bankrolling a lawsuit against Disney. Musk is also facing lawsuits from Twitter employees he laid off and from Don Lemon, who briefly had a partnership deal with X.

From the archive: Elon Musk lashed out at advertisers boycotting X during an interview at the New York Times’s DealBook Summit. The billionaire said anyone trying to blackmail him with advertising money could “go f— yourself.” Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
X’s chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, has been trying to persuade advertisers to return. With X’s lawsuit, the company is now trying to bring them back by force.

Yaccarino, in a video post addressed to X users, said “no small group should be able to monopolize what gets monetized.”

“They conspired to boycott X, which threatens our ability to thrive in the future,” said Yaccarino, who was wearing a necklace that said “free speech.” “That puts your global town square, the one place you can express yourself freely and openly, at long term risk.”

Rebecca Haw Allensworth, an antitrust professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, said one issue with the X complaint is that it didn’t seem like advertisers pulled spending because they wanted to suppress competition.

“It seemed like they did so because they didn’t believe in the policies of X,” she said. If the primary purpose was to make that kind of a point, such action would be protected by the First Amendment, she added.

Rumble, a video platform popular with conservatives, said Tuesday it was also filing antitrust lawsuits against companies that withheld advertising money.

X’s ad revenue fell sharply in the year after Musk bought the platform. Recently, though, Musk has touted his own internal metric which he claims shows record usage on X.

Elon Musk Inc.

More coverage of the billionaire entrepreneur and his businesses, selected by editors

Write to Alyssa Lukpat at [email protected], Joseph De Avila at [email protected], Dana Mattioli at [email protected] and Alexa Corse at [email protected]

[NattyBohChamps04]

This isn’t good business or even good or strategy just pathetic and a joke. More resources wasted in this dirt merchant.

Elon Musk’s X Sues Advertising Coalition Over ‘Massive’ Boycott
Companies unfairly targeted the social-media platform over safety standards, according to the lawsuit; ‘we tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,’ Musk says

Is he betting on a Trump White House bailout of his disastrous purchase and terrible mis-management, or is he just delusional?

It's like watching the Supertrain crash.

[jhu72]

This isn’t good business or even good or strategy just pathetic and a joke. More resources wasted in this dirt merchant.

Elon Musk’s X Sues Advertising Coalition Over ‘Massive’ Boycott
Companies unfairly targeted the social-media platform over safety standards, according to the lawsuit; ‘we tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,’ Musk says

Aug. 6, 2024 at 6:51 pm

The boycott began in November 2022 after Musk acquired Twitter, the lawsuit said. The coalition started the boycott due to a concern that Twitter would change its content and safety standards under Musk’s leadership, according to the complaint.

At least 18 brands associated with the coalition stopped advertising on Twitter from November 2022 through December 2022, according to the lawsuit. Dozens more of the coalition’s members cut back spending on ads through 2023.

X said the coalition violated antitrust laws by having its members agree to a boycott, which X called a “coercive exercise of market power.”

The companies cited in the X lawsuit were part of the World Federation of Advertisers group, which has dozens of members. The group has an initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which pushes for safeguards to remove harmful content, such as child sexual abuse material and content promoting terrorism, so it isn’t placed next to ads from their members.

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media noted “the massive economic harm imposed on Twitter by the boycott,” the lawsuit said. “The boycott and its effects continue to this day, despite X applying brand safety standards comparable to those of its competitors.”

After acquiring the platform in 2022, Musk pledged to loosen content restrictions to encourage free speech. Outside researchers and critics have said Musk’s platform has allowed the proliferation of hateful and false content. The company has disputed such criticisms and has said it has made progress on reducing the spread of hateful content.

The World Federation of Advertisers and the other defendants didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit doesn’t resemble a typical antitrust claim, said Stephen Calkins, a law professor at Wayne State University who specializes in antitrust law.

“If people have simply switched purchasing ads from one platform to another, it’s not clear how that is going to be harming competition and ending up at higher prices,” he said.

In the complaint, X argues social-media platforms that comply with GARM’s standards are able to avoid competing on prices with X because those platforms “know that GARM-member advertisers and advertising agencies have agreed not to purchase advertising from Twitter (and now X).”

Over the last year in meetings on Capitol Hill with Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), and others, Musk complained about advertisers boycotting X and complained about Global Alliance for Responsible Media. In meetings Musk joked “GARM, it’s like HARM,” according to a person in attendance. In May, Jordan subpoenaed GARM for documents for evidence of anticonservative bias. Last month, the House Judiciary Committee, which Jordan is chairman of, published: “Garms Harm: How The World’s Biggest Brands Seek to Control Online Speech.”


Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press
The lawsuit references that report, which found that GARM may have violated antitrust laws by withholding advertising spending from social-media platforms and conservative media outlets.

Advertisers have fled X since Musk bought the platform in 2022, partially in response to Musk’s inflammatory posts. Last year, several large advertisers ditched the platform after the billionaire described an antisemitic post as “the actual truth.” At a conference, he said advertisers pulling their ads from X can “go f— yourself.”

In multiple X posts on Tuesday, Musk urged companies who have faced advertising boycotts to also file lawsuits.

“We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,” Musk said on X.

Musk has gotten more litigious in recent months. On Monday, he revived his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI. X has sued watchdog group Media Matters for America, and is bankrolling a lawsuit against Disney. Musk is also facing lawsuits from Twitter employees he laid off and from Don Lemon, who briefly had a partnership deal with X.

From the archive: Elon Musk lashed out at advertisers boycotting X during an interview at the New York Times’s DealBook Summit. The billionaire said anyone trying to blackmail him with advertising money could “go f— yourself.” Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
X’s chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, has been trying to persuade advertisers to return. With X’s lawsuit, the company is now trying to bring them back by force.

Yaccarino, in a video post addressed to X users, said “no small group should be able to monopolize what gets monetized.”

“They conspired to boycott X, which threatens our ability to thrive in the future,” said Yaccarino, who was wearing a necklace that said “free speech.” “That puts your global town square, the one place you can express yourself freely and openly, at long term risk.”

Rebecca Haw Allensworth, an antitrust professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, said one issue with the X complaint is that it didn’t seem like advertisers pulled spending because they wanted to suppress competition.

“It seemed like they did so because they didn’t believe in the policies of X,” she said. If the primary purpose was to make that kind of a point, such action would be protected by the First Amendment, she added.

Rumble, a video platform popular with conservatives, said Tuesday it was also filing antitrust lawsuits against companies that withheld advertising money.

X’s ad revenue fell sharply in the year after Musk bought the platform. Recently, though, Musk has touted his own internal metric which he claims shows record usage on X.

Elon Musk Inc.

More coverage of the billionaire entrepreneur and his businesses, selected by editors

Write to Alyssa Lukpat at [email protected], Joseph De Avila at [email protected], Dana Mattioli at [email protected] and Alexa Corse at [email protected]

... Musk is a punch line to a joke. He is competing with Trump to be the world's biggest crybaby. He is an entitled a-hole.

[Farfromgeneva]

This isn’t good business or even good or strategy just pathetic and a joke. More resources wasted in this dirt merchant.

Elon Musk’s X Sues Advertising Coalition Over ‘Massive’ Boycott
Companies unfairly targeted the social-media platform over safety standards, according to the lawsuit; ‘we tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,’ Musk says

Is he betting on a Trump White House bailout of his disastrous purchase and terrible mis-management, or is he just delusional?

It's like watching the Supertrain crash.

Yep. Appears he’s been tickling the balls of Jordan too which I’m sure brings him back to his wrestling days and OSU. (Sorry tld but you have to own it all if you root for this school)

[Farfromgeneva]

This isn’t good business or even good or strategy just pathetic and a joke. More resources wasted in this dirt merchant.

Elon Musk’s X Sues Advertising Coalition Over ‘Massive’ Boycott
Companies unfairly targeted the social-media platform over safety standards, according to the lawsuit; ‘we tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,’ Musk says

Aug. 6, 2024 at 6:51 pm

The boycott began in November 2022 after Musk acquired Twitter, the lawsuit said. The coalition started the boycott due to a concern that Twitter would change its content and safety standards under Musk’s leadership, according to the complaint.

At least 18 brands associated with the coalition stopped advertising on Twitter from November 2022 through December 2022, according to the lawsuit. Dozens more of the coalition’s members cut back spending on ads through 2023.

X said the coalition violated antitrust laws by having its members agree to a boycott, which X called a “coercive exercise of market power.”

The companies cited in the X lawsuit were part of the World Federation of Advertisers group, which has dozens of members. The group has an initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which pushes for safeguards to remove harmful content, such as child sexual abuse material and content promoting terrorism, so it isn’t placed next to ads from their members.

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media noted “the massive economic harm imposed on Twitter by the boycott,” the lawsuit said. “The boycott and its effects continue to this day, despite X applying brand safety standards comparable to those of its competitors.”

After acquiring the platform in 2022, Musk pledged to loosen content restrictions to encourage free speech. Outside researchers and critics have said Musk’s platform has allowed the proliferation of hateful and false content. The company has disputed such criticisms and has said it has made progress on reducing the spread of hateful content.

The World Federation of Advertisers and the other defendants didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit doesn’t resemble a typical antitrust claim, said Stephen Calkins, a law professor at Wayne State University who specializes in antitrust law.

“If people have simply switched purchasing ads from one platform to another, it’s not clear how that is going to be harming competition and ending up at higher prices,” he said.

In the complaint, X argues social-media platforms that comply with GARM’s standards are able to avoid competing on prices with X because those platforms “know that GARM-member advertisers and advertising agencies have agreed not to purchase advertising from Twitter (and now X).”

Over the last year in meetings on Capitol Hill with Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), and others, Musk complained about advertisers boycotting X and complained about Global Alliance for Responsible Media. In meetings Musk joked “GARM, it’s like HARM,” according to a person in attendance. In May, Jordan subpoenaed GARM for documents for evidence of anticonservative bias. Last month, the House Judiciary Committee, which Jordan is chairman of, published: “Garms Harm: How The World’s Biggest Brands Seek to Control Online Speech.”


Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press
The lawsuit references that report, which found that GARM may have violated antitrust laws by withholding advertising spending from social-media platforms and conservative media outlets.

Advertisers have fled X since Musk bought the platform in 2022, partially in response to Musk’s inflammatory posts. Last year, several large advertisers ditched the platform after the billionaire described an antisemitic post as “the actual truth.” At a conference, he said advertisers pulling their ads from X can “go f— yourself.”

In multiple X posts on Tuesday, Musk urged companies who have faced advertising boycotts to also file lawsuits.

“We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,” Musk said on X.

Musk has gotten more litigious in recent months. On Monday, he revived his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI. X has sued watchdog group Media Matters for America, and is bankrolling a lawsuit against Disney. Musk is also facing lawsuits from Twitter employees he laid off and from Don Lemon, who briefly had a partnership deal with X.

From the archive: Elon Musk lashed out at advertisers boycotting X during an interview at the New York Times’s DealBook Summit. The billionaire said anyone trying to blackmail him with advertising money could “go f— yourself.” Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
X’s chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, has been trying to persuade advertisers to return. With X’s lawsuit, the company is now trying to bring them back by force.

Yaccarino, in a video post addressed to X users, said “no small group should be able to monopolize what gets monetized.”

“They conspired to boycott X, which threatens our ability to thrive in the future,” said Yaccarino, who was wearing a necklace that said “free speech.” “That puts your global town square, the one place you can express yourself freely and openly, at long term risk.”

Rebecca Haw Allensworth, an antitrust professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, said one issue with the X complaint is that it didn’t seem like advertisers pulled spending because they wanted to suppress competition.

“It seemed like they did so because they didn’t believe in the policies of X,” she said. If the primary purpose was to make that kind of a point, such action would be protected by the First Amendment, she added.

Rumble, a video platform popular with conservatives, said Tuesday it was also filing antitrust lawsuits against companies that withheld advertising money.

X’s ad revenue fell sharply in the year after Musk bought the platform. Recently, though, Musk has touted his own internal metric which he claims shows record usage on X.

Elon Musk Inc.

More coverage of the billionaire entrepreneur and his businesses, selected by editors

Write to Alyssa Lukpat at [email protected], Joseph De Avila at [email protected], Dana Mattioli at [email protected] and Alexa Corse at [email protected]

... Musk is a punch line to a joke. He is competing with Trump to be the world's biggest crybaby. He is an entitled a-hole.

He’s always been super leveraged to subsidies, grants and other people’s money as much or more than extreme CRE guys like Harry Macklowe. It seems like he’s more leveraged now in life to a certain smallish cohort to survive that either they’ll reward him in spades or a lot of folks are going to thoroughly enjoy watching him flame out like Howard Hughes on steroids and lsd.

I don’t like the guy largely because I prefer to see winning by outrunning the competition rather an information asymmetry and he’s extreme like he makes Bill Belichek seem like this anachronistic OC I had FR yr at Bart who would yell in Hillary ridiculous voice through his fat cheeks and stache “god damn I want you to do this so I can fng yell the play to The other team and you still shove this s**t down their fng throats”. But….in some small way I applaud the levered bet on life conceptually.

[Typical Lax Dad]

This isn’t good business or even good or strategy just pathetic and a joke. More resources wasted in this dirt merchant.

Elon Musk’s X Sues Advertising Coalition Over ‘Massive’ Boycott
Companies unfairly targeted the social-media platform over safety standards, according to the lawsuit; ‘we tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,’ Musk says

Aug. 6, 2024 at 6:51 pm

The boycott began in November 2022 after Musk acquired Twitter, the lawsuit said. The coalition started the boycott due to a concern that Twitter would change its content and safety standards under Musk’s leadership, according to the complaint.

At least 18 brands associated with the coalition stopped advertising on Twitter from November 2022 through December 2022, according to the lawsuit. Dozens more of the coalition’s members cut back spending on ads through 2023.

X said the coalition violated antitrust laws by having its members agree to a boycott, which X called a “coercive exercise of market power.”

The companies cited in the X lawsuit were part of the World Federation of Advertisers group, which has dozens of members. The group has an initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which pushes for safeguards to remove harmful content, such as child sexual abuse material and content promoting terrorism, so it isn’t placed next to ads from their members.

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media noted “the massive economic harm imposed on Twitter by the boycott,” the lawsuit said. “The boycott and its effects continue to this day, despite X applying brand safety standards comparable to those of its competitors.”

After acquiring the platform in 2022, Musk pledged to loosen content restrictions to encourage free speech. Outside researchers and critics have said Musk’s platform has allowed the proliferation of hateful and false content. The company has disputed such criticisms and has said it has made progress on reducing the spread of hateful content.

The World Federation of Advertisers and the other defendants didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit doesn’t resemble a typical antitrust claim, said Stephen Calkins, a law professor at Wayne State University who specializes in antitrust law.

“If people have simply switched purchasing ads from one platform to another, it’s not clear how that is going to be harming competition and ending up at higher prices,” he said.

In the complaint, X argues social-media platforms that comply with GARM’s standards are able to avoid competing on prices with X because those platforms “know that GARM-member advertisers and advertising agencies have agreed not to purchase advertising from Twitter (and now X).”

Over the last year in meetings on Capitol Hill with Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), and others, Musk complained about advertisers boycotting X and complained about Global Alliance for Responsible Media. In meetings Musk joked “GARM, it’s like HARM,” according to a person in attendance. In May, Jordan subpoenaed GARM for documents for evidence of anticonservative bias. Last month, the House Judiciary Committee, which Jordan is chairman of, published: “Garms Harm: How The World’s Biggest Brands Seek to Control Online Speech.”


Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press
The lawsuit references that report, which found that GARM may have violated antitrust laws by withholding advertising spending from social-media platforms and conservative media outlets.

Advertisers have fled X since Musk bought the platform in 2022, partially in response to Musk’s inflammatory posts. Last year, several large advertisers ditched the platform after the billionaire described an antisemitic post as “the actual truth.” At a conference, he said advertisers pulling their ads from X can “go f— yourself.”

In multiple X posts on Tuesday, Musk urged companies who have faced advertising boycotts to also file lawsuits.

“We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,” Musk said on X.

Musk has gotten more litigious in recent months. On Monday, he revived his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI. X has sued watchdog group Media Matters for America, and is bankrolling a lawsuit against Disney. Musk is also facing lawsuits from Twitter employees he laid off and from Don Lemon, who briefly had a partnership deal with X.

From the archive: Elon Musk lashed out at advertisers boycotting X during an interview at the New York Times’s DealBook Summit. The billionaire said anyone trying to blackmail him with advertising money could “go f— yourself.” Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
X’s chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, has been trying to persuade advertisers to return. With X’s lawsuit, the company is now trying to bring them back by force.

Yaccarino, in a video post addressed to X users, said “no small group should be able to monopolize what gets monetized.”

“They conspired to boycott X, which threatens our ability to thrive in the future,” said Yaccarino, who was wearing a necklace that said “free speech.” “That puts your global town square, the one place you can express yourself freely and openly, at long term risk.”

Rebecca Haw Allensworth, an antitrust professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, said one issue with the X complaint is that it didn’t seem like advertisers pulled spending because they wanted to suppress competition.

“It seemed like they did so because they didn’t believe in the policies of X,” she said. If the primary purpose was to make that kind of a point, such action would be protected by the First Amendment, she added.

Rumble, a video platform popular with conservatives, said Tuesday it was also filing antitrust lawsuits against companies that withheld advertising money.

X’s ad revenue fell sharply in the year after Musk bought the platform. Recently, though, Musk has touted his own internal metric which he claims shows record usage on X.

Elon Musk Inc.

More coverage of the billionaire entrepreneur and his businesses, selected by editors

Write to Alyssa Lukpat at [email protected], Joseph De Avila at [email protected], Dana Mattioli at [email protected] and Alexa Corse at [email protected]

... Musk is a punch line to a joke. He is competing with Trump to be the world's biggest crybaby. He is an entitled a-hole.

Saw BBC news report of Musk working with far right protesters in Northern Ireland. Calling for a race war at worse, civil war at best. News reports mention’s government attempts to get ahead of nonsense and danger of social media platforms. Irish protesters want their country back.