The celebrity CEO backtracked quickly on his “free speech” promise for the bird site, once he found out all the advertisers would leave if he allowed hate speech.

Just ask the rapper, who made a hateful tweet this morning, which got nuked within minutes.

Elon Musk

Twitter

Kanye West

Advertisers pull back from Twitter amid ‘uncertainty’ about new owner Elon Musk’s strategy

Some advertisers are pulling back from buying promotional placements on Twitter as they determine what the site will look like under new owner Elon Musk.

In a statement to NBC News, Omnicom, the world’s second-largest agency by revenue, said that even as it remained in close contact with Twitter to determine any changes in the site’s operations, “uncertainty of this kind raises concerns among advertisers.” The company said it would continue to provide guidance to clients so they can make informed decisions.

Meanwhile, a source familiar with the thinking of Interpublic Group’s Mediabrand advertising agency unit said it had advised its clients to halt spending on Twitter for at least one week to assess any new changes in the site’s direction. A spokesperson for Interpublic declined to comment.

Musk confirmed the impact of the pullback in a tweet Friday, saying “Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue,” and blaming what he called “activist groups” who he said were “pressuring advertisers.”

He added: “Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.” – Source

Kanye West Will Put Elon Musk’s ‘Free Speech’ Promise to the Test

Elon Musk has owned Twitter for just one week — though in all the turmoil, it has felt like a lifetime.

And that was before the mass layoffs began to take effect on Thursday night. Among those reportedly let go were members of a curation team that identifies and counters misinformation.

At least outwardly, Musk seems to enjoy the chaos, whether he’s using his shiny new toy to amplify fake news about the man who allegedly tried to kidnap House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or sharing deep thoughts like “A neuron doesn’t realize it’s a neuron.” But underneath the idle shitposting he’s dealing with the existential problem of Twitter, as he sees it: How can you make this company profitable while ensuring “free speech”?

Clearly, Musk doesn’t want to bend on the principle, however lazily conceived, that would give cover to bad-faith and malicious actors currently “silenced” for violating Twitter’s community guidelines. His obstincance could soon lead to a major test of that commitment — in the form of Kanye West.

The two moguls have expressed a lot of admiration for each other in the past decade. Ye is a Tesla fan and publicly defended Musk at moments of controversy. Musk advised Ye on his 2020 presidential run and says the rapper inspires him. They travel in the same celebrity orbit. They’re friends.

But it so happens that Musk achieved his contentious takeover of Twitter at a time when Ye was voicing antisemitic conspiracy theories with every megaphone at his disposal — including his social media accounts.

Not a day later, Ye caught a Twitter suspension for promising to “go death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.” Musk claimed to have talked to him about the post, expressing his “concerns,” which he believed Ye “took to heart.” Instead, the embattled musician dug in, delivering more antisemitic tirades and misinformation about the murder of George Floyd on the Drink Champs podcast — an interview so radioactive it had to be pulled from YouTube as the Floyd family announced a $250 million lawsuit against West. He took no lesson to heart from that incident, either, deciding to up his antisemitism on the right-wing Twitter clone Parler, which he is supposedly going to buy. Musk referenced the acquisition on Twitter with a since-deleted meme showing himself, Ye, and Donald Trump as the Three Musketeers, each one owning a different social media company. On Oct. 30, West also got slapped with another 30-day Instagram ban for comments about “Jewish business people.”

Today, Ye tested the boundaries of Twitter again, posting a screenshot of a Tweet from the rapper Daylyt and echoing it verbatim: “I’m starting to think anti Semitic means n—-r.” Twitter removed both Ye’s tweet and the original post, but Parler has allowed the content to stand, albeit behind a warning screen that labels it “Trolling Content.” Daylyt has been on the same page as West lately, with both supporting the Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving, who has been suspended by the team after promoting an antisemitic film and failing to disavow those views. Irving has since apologized; he and the Nets will each donate $500,000 to anti-hate causes through the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

The ripple effects of all this are significant. In Los Angeles, on Oct. 23, an antisemitic group was emboldened to hang banners over a busy freeway declaring that “Kanye is right about the Jews,” even striking Nazi salutes. Yesterday, the FBI warned of a “broad” threat to synagogues in New Jersey — but were able to neutralize the situation before any violence occurred. On the Twitter side, the NAACP, having met with Musk, is now calling for a total advertiser boycott until the platform “safeguards our democracy and rids itself of any content or account that spews hate and disinformation.” The ADL joined them in that effort, linking to an ongoing campaign called “Stop Hate for Profit.” – Source

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