Elon Musk accuses companies that advertise on X of blackmail

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Billionaire hurled insults in an interview during an event promoted by The New York Times. Elon Musk Getty Images via BBC In explosive statements this Wednesday (11/30), Elon Musk criticized advertisers who left X (formerly Twitter), warning that they would end the social media platform. At an event in New York, he accused companies that joined an advertising boycott against the site of trying to blackmail him. “They will *****,” said the billionaire in an interview during an event promoted by The New York Times. Some companies stopped their ads on X after Musk was accused of anti-Semitism in a post on the social network itself. The head of Tesla and SpaceX has apologized for that post, saying it could be the “stupidest” thing he has ever shared online. But it was his response to a question about the advertising boycott by companies like Disney, Apple and Comcast that caused a stir during the event that brings together leaders from the worlds of business, politics and culture. “I don’t want them to advertise,” Musk said at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit. “If someone is going to blackmail me with publicity or money, go *****!.” “Go *****. Is it clear? I hope it is,” says Musk. “Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel.” He was apparently referring to Disney CEO Bob Iger, who was on a panel at the event earlier in the day. At the same event where Musk was speaking was Linda Yaccarino, chief executive of X, who was accused of trying to bring advertisers back to the platform. In his interview, Musk also said that advertisers could kill X. “What this advertising boycott is going to do is kill the company,” he said. “The whole world will know that these advertisers killed the company and we will document this in detail,” he added. Yaccarino reposted Musk’s speech on his X account, classifying the episode as a “candid interview.” The executive president also said that “X is allowing an independence of information that is uncomfortable for some people.” “We are a platform that allows people to make their own decisions,” she wrote. VIDEO: What was the new test of the most powerful spacecraft in the world, created by Musk’s company Musk and Linda Yaccarino at a marketing event in April, in the United States Rebecca Blackwell/AP Musk visited Israel after, last month, appearing to support an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory on his X account. “I’m so sorry about that tweet…it could literally be the worst, dumbest post I’ve ever made,” he said Wednesday. The boycott, however, is not just related to this post. Even before the incident, many advertisers had already decided to spend their money elsewhere. In an interview with the BBC in April, Musk said that “almost all of them [anunciantes] Either they’re back or they’re going to come back.” Three months later, he acknowledged in an X post that advertising revenue had dropped by 50%. Shortly before, the progressive watchdog group Media Matters published a report that claimed it had found evidence that ads on X were being placed alongside Nazi content. OX says the group’s report “misrepresented X’s actual user experience” in order to “undermine freedom of expression and mislead advertisers.” The platform took legal action against Media Matters. It’s hard to imagine that Musk’s comments could cause advertisers to back down. It’s unclear how much of X’s revenue currently comes from advertising because it is a private company that no longer publishes quarterly reports. But before Musk took over the company, advertising accounted for about 90% of Twitter’s revenue. MORE Musk with daughter Elon Musk’s biographer talks about the billionaire’s breakup with his daughter

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