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Brands Flee X Over Content Concerns, Marking Largest Ad Spend Drop

A record number of companies are planning to reduce their advertising budgets on Elon Musk’s social media platform X next year, citing concerns that extreme content could harm their brands. This shift marks the largest recorded pullback from any major global ad platform.

Survey Reveals Significant Decline in Ad Spend

A global survey by market research firm Kantar revealed that a net 26% of marketers intend to cut their spending on X in 2025, outstripping any other ad platform. In contrast, only 4% of marketers view X ads as providing “brand safety”—the assurance that ads will not appear alongside controversial content—compared to 39% for Google ads, according to the report.

Experts Doubt a Turnaround for X

Gonca Bubani, Kantar’s global thought leadership director for media, stated, “Advertisers have been moving their marketing spend away from X for several years, and a turnaround currently seems unlikely.” She added, “X has changed so much in recent years and can be unpredictable from one day to the next—it’s difficult to feel confident about your brand safety in that environment.”

Consumer Perspective Differs

Conversely, consumers have a more favorable view of ads on X, noting that there are now fewer ads compared to before, as per Kantar’s findings.

Musk’s Efforts Fall Short

The survey results indicate that Musk’s recent efforts to improve relations with advertisers, including his appearance at the Cannes Lions advertising festival in June, have not yielded the desired effect. Despite a conciliatory tone during an interview with WPP CEO Mark Read, Musk’s previous comments advising advertisers to “go f**k yourself” seem to have left a lasting impact.

X Responds with Confidence

In response to the survey, X issued a statement asserting that the platform now provides stronger brand safety, performance, and analytics capabilities than ever before, claiming an average brand safety rate of 99%, as validated by DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science.

Brands Scale Back Post-Acquisition

Since Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the platform in 2022, major brands have scaled back their presence on X due to concerns over content moderation and the platform’s evolving direction. Musk’s own controversial statements, including his endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory—which he later apologized for—have further unsettled advertisers.

X Falls Short in Trust and Innovation

The Kantar report, which involved interviews with 1,000 senior marketers and 18,000 consumers across more than two dozen countries, also found X ranking outside the top 10 for both trust and innovation in advertising.

Brazilian President Criticizes Musk’s Approach

In related news, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized Musk’s “far-right anything goes” approach, suggesting that the world does not have to tolerate such ideology due to Musk’s wealth. Brazil also blocked X over the weekend following a Supreme Court order, exacerbating a long-standing dispute over online misinformation and free speech.

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Prateek Levi