Following Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media site, “woke” firms that have long dominated Twitter are removing their advertisements.
Pfizer stated on Thursday that it was “pausing” advertisements, but it wasn’t the only business offended by Americans being able to openly discuss politics on the important internet platform.
A few advertisers worry that Mr. Musk would reduce content monitoring, which would increase the amount of problematic content on the platform. Some of the people stated that others are temporarily ceasing their advertising due to the uncertainty at the company as top executives leave and Mr. Musk explores a number of changes.
“Food company General Mills Inc., Oreo maker Mondelez International Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Volkswagen AG’s Audi are among a growing list of brands that have temporarily paused their Twitter advertising in the wake of the takeover of the company by Elon Musk, according to people familiar with the matter,” WSJ reported.
General Mills
Minnesota-based General Mills—which produces Cheerios, Trix, Lucky Charms, and Cocoa Puffs cereals, among many others—was one of the latest companies to pause advertising on Twitter.
General Mills confirmed the move to the Associated Press on Thursday, with spokesperson Kelsey Roemhildt saying: “As always, we will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend.”
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General Motors
Detroit automaker General Motors (GM) announced that it was going to pause advertising on Twitter last week, as it said it’s trying to “understand the direction of the platform.”
In a press statement last week, GM said that it is currently “engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership” and “as is the normal course of business with a significant change in a media platform, we have temporarily paused our paid advertising. Our customer care interactions on Twitter will continue.”
Mondelez International
Mondelez International, the makers of the popular Oreo sandwich cookies, also halted advertising on Twitter, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The company has not yet released an official statement acknowledging the ad pause or responded to media requests for comment.
Pfizer
Citing anonymous sources, The Wall Street Journal wrote on Thursday that pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has also suspended advertising on Twitter.
