Twitter Chief Elon Musk Tries to Reassure Advertisers at Miami Beach Forum
Elon Musk discussed the advertising industry with NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino at a Miami Beach, Fla., conference on Tuesday. Photo: Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press By Arian Campo-Flores and Patience Haggin April 18, 2023 5:53 pm ET MIAMI BEACH, Fla.—Twitter Chief Executive Elon Musk made his latest appeal to advertisers, seeking to reassure them that the platform is a hospitable and valuable vehicle for their brands in an appearance at the Possible marketing conference on Tuesday. Many advertisers pulled their ads from Twitter after Mr. Musk’s takeover of the social-media platform was completed in October, either out of concern that Mr. Musk might weaken content moderation, potentially leading to more hate spee
Elon Musk discussed the advertising industry with NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino at a Miami Beach, Fla., conference on Tuesday.
Photo: Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press
MIAMI BEACH, Fla.—Twitter Chief Executive Elon Musk made his latest appeal to advertisers, seeking to reassure them that the platform is a hospitable and valuable vehicle for their brands in an appearance at the Possible marketing conference on Tuesday.
Many advertisers pulled their ads from Twitter after Mr. Musk’s takeover of the social-media platform was completed in October, either out of concern that Mr. Musk might weaken content moderation, potentially leading to more hate speech on the social-media platform, or because of the uncertainty surrounding the company’s direction under its new leadership.
Mr. Musk—who spoke in a conversation with Linda Yaccarino, chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal—said he was eager to hear legitimate concerns that advertisers might have about Twitter, but he emphasized that he wouldn’t succumb to pressures to make changes he doesn’t believe in.
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Subscribe Now“It’s totally cool to say that you want to have your advertising appear in certain places of Twitter and not in other places,” he said. “But it is not cool to say what Twitter will do. And if that means losing advertising dollars, we’ll lose them. But freedom of speech is paramount.”
Mr. Musk later said, “We’re trying to achieve here a sensible middle ground, or we’re trying to satisfy a range of things, which is how to ensure the public has their voice…but also that you’re able to serve your brands and improve the perception of your brands, and your sales as well.”
Many big advertisers appear to have stayed away or greatly reduced their spending on Twitter, according to third-party data.
Elon Musk says he is eager to hear concerns that advertisers might have about Twitter.
Photo: Benjamin Fanjoy/Associated Press
Of Twitter’s former top 100 advertisers from before Mr. Musk bought the company, 37 appeared to spend nothing on Twitter advertising during the first quarter of this year, according to market-intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Of that former top 100, another 24 brands appeared to have reduced their average monthly Twitter ad spending by 80% or more compared with the period before the acquisition, according to Sensor Tower.
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Mr. Musk elaborated Tuesday on Twitter’s policy for content moderation, which he has described as freedom of speech but not freedom of reach. “If somebody has something hateful to say, it doesn’t mean you should give them a megaphone,” Mr. Musk said. He added, “We’re not going to recommend hateful content to people.”
Pressed by Ms. Yaccarino about his own sometimes-controversial tweets, Mr. Musk said the policy applies to him as well. He addressed concerns about those tweets, saying people should take them with a grain of salt and that it is difficult to convey tone, such as sarcasm, in a tweet.
—Alexa Corse contributed to this article.
Write to Arian Campo-Flores at [email protected] and Patience Haggin at [email protected]
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