Dec 1 (Reuters) – Walmart (WMT.N) said on Friday it would no longer advertise on social media platform X, one of the latest brands to say it was shutting down the Elon Musk-owned site.
A Walmart spokesperson said: “We are no longer advertising on X because we have found other platforms to better reach our customers.”
Company X, formerly known as Twitter, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The platform has struggled to retain advertisers since Musk bought the company in October 2022, and has faced new outflows in recent weeks amid growing concerns over anti-Semitic content. There is.
Earlier this month, Musk agreed with user X who falsely claimed that members of the Jewish community were inciting hatred against white people, saying the user was telling the “actual truth.”
The user also mentioned the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, in which Jews and leftists plan to ethnically and culturally replace the white population with non-white immigrants, leading to “white genocide.” Was.
Musk apologized for his post in an interview Wednesday at the New York Times’ Deal Book event, but he also lashed out at advertisers who had suspended their ads, accusing them of “blackmail.”
An executive at a major ad-buying agency, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that X Company’s ad sales representatives appeared dissatisfied in the aftermath of Musk’s brand abuse and didn’t say much in conversations.
Major brands such as Apple (AAPL.O), Walt Disney (DIS.N) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.O) also announced their advertising on X this month following a report by liberal watchdog group Media Matters. was temporarily suspended. For anti-Semitic posts.
Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York and Sheila Dang in Dallas.Editing: Chizu Nomiyama, Bill Berkrot
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.