Category Archives: X

X May Lose Up To $75 Million In Revenue As More Advertisers Pull Out

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Engadget reported that X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, typically earns the most money in the last months of the year, as brands ramp up their advertising campaigns. According to The New York Times, though, the company’s earnings report for this quarter might look different than usual.

Based on internal documents The Times has seen, over 100 brands and even other types of advertisers, such as political candidates, have fully paused their ads on the website, while dozens more are considering pulling their campaigns. If advertisers don’t come back, X could lose up to $75 million in ad revenue earnings this year.

According to Engadget, IBM, Apple and Disney were among the brands that quickly pulled their ads from X after the incidents. Lionsgate specifically cited Musk’s tweet as its reason for suspending its advertising campaigns, while Ubisoft was one of the first video game companies to withdraw its ads from X.

According to The Times’ report, Airbnb has halted over $1 million worth of advertising on X, and Netflix has pulled $3 million in ads. X could also lose $4 million in ad revenue due to Microsoft’s subsidiaries pausing their campaigns. Uber and Coca-Cola are two other well-known brands that have chosen to put their advertising on X on hold.

Reuters reported that Musk backing an antisemitic post on the platform last week has led several companies including Walt Disney and Warner Bros Discovery to pass their advertisements on the site formerly called Twitter.

According to Reuters, X has struck back and sued media watchdog group Media Matters, alleging the organization defamed the platform with a report that said ads for major brands including Apple and Oracle had appeared next to posts touting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

Advertisers have fled X since Musk bought it in October 2022 and reduced content moderation, resulting in a sharp rise in hate speech on the site, according to civil rights groups.

Mashable reported that the ad exodus followed X owner Elon Musk’s public support of an antisemitic conspiracy theory, in a tweet that is amazingly still up. That, combined with a general influx of hateful content that has the tendency to appear next to ads, has created a hostile environment for advertisers.

According to Mashable, X even confirmed a report from watchdog group Media Matters that ads on the platform are being shown alongside hateful content – but X is suing Media Matters for it anyway, claiming that it was a deliberate, malicious attack to “drive advertisers from the platform.”

The Hill reported that the New York Times said it viewed “internal documents” revealing that the social media company is in a tough position. The documents reportedly list over 200 ad units from companies like Amazon and Coca-Cola that have stopped or are considering pausing their advertising on X.

According to The Hill, The Times, said the documents are from the sales team at X, and that they are used to track the impact from advertising pullbacks in November.

In my opinion, there were many steps that Elon Musk could have taken to stop the exodus of brands pulling away their advertising from X, formerly known as Twitter. Suing Media Matters, who pointed out the antisemitic content on Mr. Musk’s platform, will not bring advertising money back.

Elon Musk Says X Will Show Headlines On The Platform Again

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Elon Musk said that X, formerly Twitter, will start showing headlines in preview cards with URL’s on the platform again after removing titles last month, TechCrunch reported.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Musk said in an upcoming update, the company will overlay the title in the upper portion of the image of a URL Card. He didn’t mention any specific timeline for the rollout or give an example of what the card might look like.

According to TechCrunch, in August, the Tesla CEO said that X planned to stop showing titles with URL’s in “improved aesthetics.” The company stopped showing headlines in October after the announcement.

Because of this change, users had to tap on the URL card to actually know the title or read the headline. To get around this change, publishers started to write their own headlines on image and post the link separately or include the headline in the image of the generated preview card.

This change might make it easier for publications and not work on custom formats, but that completely depends on the layout of the new card.

Mashable reported that Twitter/X owner Elon Musk has announced the platform will reinstate headlines to link previews for articles. Musk removed automatic article headlines and their subhead text last month because he didn’t like how they looked.

The announcement came less than two hours after Musk himself inadvertently demonstrated how the removal of Twitter/X’s headline previews had severely reduced the platform’s functionality. Sharing a Reuters article about OpenAI, the beleaguered billionaire simply stated that it was “Extremely concerning!” – a statement rendered nonsensical without the link’s context.

According to Mashable, Twitter/X users immediately began roasting Musk for returning a feature many felt he never should have arbitrarily removed in the first place.

9to5Google reported that for years, Twitter/X has been a great source to not only witness breaking news (ie.the recent OpenAI drama), but also to get news from various outlets.

But when Elon Musk opted to remove headlines from link previews, it really took away the usefulness of sharing links on the platform. That is, on iOS and the web. Headlines were never removed from Twitter’s Android app.

Now, things are changing back. Elon Musk announced this week that Twitter/X will, “in an upcoming release,” put an “overlay title” on URL cards. In other words, tweets will start showing headlines again.

iPhoneInCanada  reported that the original change to the headlines on X posed a number of issues for the user base. As one can imagine, cutting headlines caused a lot of context to be lost when sharing articles. Thus, many began having to clarify and write out the headlines as part of the post’s text.

It also became a cause for concern when the legitimacy of some articles and the spread of misinformation became apparent thanks to the change.

In my opinion, Mr. Musk tends to try out new things on X, formerly Twitter, without really thinking through how those changes will affect users. The removal of headlines from news articles is a vivid example of why he shouldn’t be messing around with things.

X Sues Media Matters To Silence Moderation Criticism

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X, formerly Twitter, has followed through with owner Elon Musk’s threat to sue the left-leaning nonprofit Media Matters, The Verge reported. Media Matters reported last week that X “has been placing ads for major brands” like Apple and IBM “next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.”

According to The Verge, Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino have dubbed the report unrepresentative of X’s general user experience. Several companies nonetheless pulled ads after that report and Musk’s direct endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory – and Musk’s lawsuit claims Media Matters is legally liable for X’s loss.

Neither Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, nor X argues that Media Matters was falsely claiming to see ads on pro-Nazi content. In fact, the suit confirms that the screenshots the organization posted are real. But it alleges the organization “manipulated” the service to make X serve the offending ads.

The lawsuit accuses Media Matters of interference with contract, business, disparagement and interference with prospective economic advantage – claims that could be difficult to prove given the First Amendment’s high bar for legally prosecuting speech, The Verge reported.

“We are going to continue our work undeterred. If he sues us, we will win,” Media Matters president Angelo Carsone told The Verge in a previous statement, saying that “Elon Musk has spent the last few days making meritless legal threats, elevating bizarre conspiracy theories, and lobbing vicious personal attacks against his ‘enemies’ online.”

The Hill reported that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said Monday that his office is opening an investigation into Media Matters for America over its recent reports accusing X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, of placing ads for mainstream brands next to pro-Nazi and white nationalist content.

According to The Hill, Paxton’s office said it is investigating the liberal media watchdog group for “potential fraudulent activity” after X sued Media Matters in federal court in Texas, alleging it “manipulated the algorithms” on the platform in order to produce the reports and “alienate advertisers.”

Media Matters initially released a report Thursday saying that it had found ads for companies including Apple, Bravo, Oracle, Xfinity and IBM next to posts on X celebrating Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, The Hill reported. In a follow up report on Friday, the watchdog said it had also found ads for Amazon, NBA Mexico, NBCUniversal Catalyst, Action Network and Club for Growth next to posts featuring white nationalist hashtags.

CNBC reported the National Football League is sticking with X, formerly known as Twitter, as Elon Musk’s site faces an advertiser revolt over hate speech and antisemitism on the platform.

According to CNBC, the NFL has partnered with the platform since 2013 as part of an effort to bring fans exclusive content.

Since Musk took over last fall, the platform has been caught up in several controversies, including those surrounding X’s policy for moderating harmful content.

In my opinion, the correct thing to do, when discovering that antisemitic and Nazi content is on your platform, is to actively remove that content. Filing a lawsuit in an effort to stifle what Media Matters found indicates Musk is not interested in cleaning up X at all.

X Continues To Restrict Links To Rival Apps And News Publishers

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Twitter is now slowing down traffic on links to the crowdfunding site Patreon, WhatsApp, and at times, Meta’s Messenger app, a Markup analysis confirms, The Markup reported.

Using a tool launched by The Markup last month, readers discovered that links to these sites were delayed by an average of 2.5 seconds – findings The Markup confirmed. Patreon users told The Markup that the throttling undermines their ability to reach new supporters on Twitter, which has historically been a key platform for building donations.

In September, The Markup reported that Twitter, now officially named X, was slowing down links to Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Substack, also by an average of 2.5 seconds, which can feel extremely slow for users.

The Markup simultaneously launched a tool that lets readers test any link posted on X (which the platform automatically shortens using the t.co domain), and measured the time it took for X to redirect the link to its original destination. The Markup also built a bot that would let them know if any links readers were testing appeared to be throttled.

Shortly after publication, readers began using The Markup’s tool, and The Markup received alerts that Patreon, WhatsApp, and Messenger links appeared to be throttled. To confirm these findings, The Markup created new links and measured over several days the performance of redirects to the 25 top-earning Patreon campaigns, as measured by tracking site Graphtreon on September 30.

According to The Markup, Laurent Crenshaw, Patreon’s senior director of policy and external affairs, said in an emailed statement, “Creators are locked into social platforms that take away their creativity, and their ability to build a business. When a fan decides to follow a creator, they should be able to see 100% of their posts, 100% of the time.”

SocialMediaToday reported that earlier this year, reports indicated that X was throttling links to rival social media and publishing platforms, including Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and Substack. Further investigations found that X was also delaying load times to The New York Times, Reuters, and various other media that had been singled out for criticism by Elon in his posts.

Which, given Musk’s clear distain for the “mainstream media” is a list that grows almost daily, so if X is really looking to punish links to sites that Elon doesn’t like, Andrew Hutchinson (Content creator and Social Media Manager) suspects there won’t be many websites that aren’t copping a load time penalty sometime soon as a result.

According to SocialMediaToday, X has neither confirmed or denied that its been limiting the flow of traffic to external sites, though there are notes within X’s open-sourced code which indicate that links to rival social apps, even if they’re just named in a post, will result in “de-boosting.”

Musk is not known for playing well with others, or offering what he sees as free promotion via his platforms, according to SocialMediaToday.

In my opinion, Elon Musk appears to be desperately trying to make X so inhospitable that droves of people will leave it for social media platforms that don’t throttle users. Reportedly, Mr. Musk wants to make X into an “everything app”, but he can’t do that if he’s restricting links to the sites that creators use.

Twitter/X Now Lets You Restrict Replies To X Premium Subscribers

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Twitter/X will now let users stop unverified accounts from replying to their posts, in case that was something you wanted to do. If it is, you’re probably in the minority, Mashable reported.

The official X account announced the change on Wednesday by posting an image of the platform’s updated reply limitation menu. Now, instead of just being able to restrict replies to “everyone,” “accounts you follow,” and “only accounts you mention,” there is a new fourth option: “verified accounts.”

Select that option, and only people who are paying Twitter/X’s $8 per month X Premium subscription fee will be able to respond to your tweet.

According to Mashable, the change has already rolled out across both mobile and PC, so if you don’t already have it you probably will soon. If you do have it, it’s just one more feature you can ignore.

This new category of response restrictions is Twitter/X’s latest effort to make X Premium seem appealing without actually adding anything of value.

Engadget reported: Another day, another X update that limits what you can do on the site without paying Elon Musk for a verification checkmark. A post from the official X account announced that you can now restrict replies to just verified users – any tagged accounts can also comment. The new restriction is available whether you’re verified or not, joining the existing options to allow replies from everyone, only accounts you follow or people mentioned.

According to Engadget, Musk launched what is now X Premium in November 2022 – only a few weeks after becoming the company’s official owner – providing anyone with a blue checkmark by their name $8 per month or $84 per year. Verification was initially available on Twitter to confirm the identity of notable figures, but the paid system led to impersonations and the approval of bots.

TechCrunch reported that X, formerly Twitter, has introduced a new control that limits replies to only verified accounts. The control is not restricted to paid accounts, though. Users who don’t pay for X Premium can also choose to not let non-verified users reply to their posts.

Hours after the rollout of the feature, Elon Musk said that this new control “should help a lot with spam bots.”

According to TechCrunch, X already gives prominence to verified accounts by offering prioritized ranking in conversation and search as one of the perks of the subscription. With the new control to limit replies to only verified accounts, X is now allowing paid users to get noticed more.

TechCrunch also reported that while Musk’s intention is to reduce spam in replies, there is no guarantee that verified accounts won’t post harmful information. Earlier this week, an NBC News report noted that many verified accounts on X were posting false news about U.S. President Joe Biden allocating $8 billion as military aid to Israel.

Personally, I’m no longer interested in staying on X/Twitter. To me, it looks as though Elon Musk is making haphazard changes that, in some cases, don’t work as well as perhaps he would have liked them to. Spam accounts will still be on the platform. Removing headlines from news sites is silly. There are better social media sites to use.

X Appears To Be Rolling Out Ads That Can’t Be Reported Or Blocked

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X, the Elon Musk-owned platform formerly known as Twitter, has begun serving its users with a weird new ad format and it’s one of the company’s least transparent products yet, Mashable reported. The rollout of these ads also provides the public with a hint regarding just how much the company is struggling to attract advertisers.

Multiple X users have reached out to Mashable over the past few days to report seeing a new type of ad in their For You feed that they had not previously come across on the platform. These new X ads don’t allow users to like or retweet the ad posts. In fact, the new ad format also doesn’t disclose who is behind the ad or that it is even an advertisement at all.

Mashable has confirmed this ad format with numerous users from across X and have seen a variety of different ads running this bizarre new format that just consists of written copy text, a photo, and a fake avatar that’s sole purpose is to make the ad look like an organically posted tweet.

According to Mashable, the type of content being promoted in the ads that Mashable has viewed appear to be consistent with ads found in spammy, low quality, “chumbox” advertising – typically defined as those clickbait ads found at the bottom of posts on content farm sites – made popular by native ad networks like Taboola.

Daring Fireball (by John Gruber) reported that Linda Yaccarino keeps claiming that X is on the upswing, but looking at the actual content – especially the ads – says otherwise. These new “chumbox” ads are bottom-of-the-barrel stuff, the sort of ads I’d expect to see on a third-rate Twitter knock off site like Truth Social. X itself now feels like a third-rate Twitter knock off.

Media Matters For America posted a research/study titled “Linda Yaccarino again claims advertisers are returning to X. Here are the facts.” From Media Matters:

CEO Linda Yaccarino and others at X (formerly Twitter) have repeatedly tried to boast that advertisers are returning to the platform, but Media Matters analysis tells a different story: Since Elon Musk took over the company, it has earned 42% less ad revenue and had 28% fewer individual monthly advertisers than before his leadership began. Additionally, in the 12 weeks of Yaccarino’s tenure as CEO, the majority of the company’s top 100 advertisers pre-Musk spent a fraction of what they did in the 12 weeks prior to Musk’s acquisition.

For example, Visa – which Yaccarino cited as an example of a “returning” advertiser – has spent just $10 in the past 12 weeks, compared to roughly $77,500 in the 12 weeks before Musk bought Twitter.

Media Matters has been tracking advertising data on X from Sensor Tower since Musk acquired what was then called Twitter on October 27, 2022. Less than a month later, Media Matters found that 50 of the top 100 advertisers from prior to Musk’s takeover had either announced they would stop, or seemingly stopped, advertising on the platform.

In our latest analysis, Media Matters found that the company’s ad revenue is still decimated. The company has earned an average monthly ad revenue of $69.5 million from roughly 1,900 average monthly advertisers in the last 11 months – 42% less revenue and 28% fewer advertisers than in the 11 months before Musk acquired the company.

It seems to me that the lack of advertisers on X could be part of the reason why Elon Musk is trying to emphasize new premium subscription tiers. To my knowledge, the price of those premium subscriptions plans hasn’t been officially announced yet. In the meantime, the bizarre ads that are appearing on X might be what influences people to leave the platform.

X Working On New Premium Subscription Tiers To Let Users Remove Ads

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Elon Musk’s X platform (formerly Twitter) has been undergoing a lot of profound changes since it was acquired by the billionaire last year, as he wants to turn the social network into a mega app for calls and even payments. In the meantime, It seems Musk wants to expand the X Premium paid service by breaking it up into different tiers, including one that removes all adds, 9to5 Mac reported.

If you’re not familiar with the name X Premium, that’s because the service was called Twitter Blue before the platform’s rebrand, 9to5 Mac reported. Those who pay for X Premium have access to some exclusive features, such as customizing the app icon, an edit posts button, text formatting, longer posts and videos, and access to X Pro (formerly TweetDeck).

Currently, X Premium subscribers may see fewer ads in their timeline compared to users who don’t pay to use X. But in the future, Musk may give users the option of eliminating ads for good – at a higher price, of course.

Mashable reported that Twitter/X is continuing to throw monetization plans against the wall to see what sticks. It’s latest questionable projectile? Subscription tiers.

According to Mashable, developer and leaker @aaronp613 has dug into the app’s recent iOS update for more details on X’s proposed subscription tiers. Confirming the three-tier subscription system, aaronp613 found that Basic users will still see ads in their For You page, Standard users will have half the amount of ads (the current X Premium subscription experience), and Plus users will have no ads at all.

Subscribing will presumably do more than just reduce ads, though it isn’t clear what other perks might be included, or how X might distribute them among each tier. Still, they’ll have to be some pretty impressive features to make handing over your hard-earned cash to the billionaire-owned microblogging site worth it.

SocialMedia Today reported: In essence, X is looking to spark more interest in its subscription offering by making it cheaper for people to buy a blue checkmark, though they won’t get all the same benefits as the current $8 per month version. It remains to be seen if they’ll even get a blue tick, though presumably, the stripped-down, cheaper version of X Premium would still include the marker of paid verification.

However, it’s the no ads version that’s likely to spark the most discussion and interest.

Meta, TikTok, and X are currently exploring ad-free subscription offerings, as a means to drive more sign-ups for their subscription plans, though the actual motivation may not be new revenue streams, as such, but could be specifically tied to evolving privacy rules in Europe.

SociaMedia Today reported that The Washington Post wrote that the move towards paid, ad-free access could actually align with EU rules on data collection, which essentially require social apps to offer a means for users to opt-out of data tracking for personalization, if they so choose.

By providing a paid option, that may enable each company to keep using data tracking tools, as users would technically then have a way to opt out. But rather than Apple’s iOS 14 update, which lets users simply block app tracking for free, the companies would be looking to make you pay for that privilege.

In my opinion, I don’t think the majority of the people still using X will want to spend money on premium subscriptions. It’s going to be hard for Elon Musk to convince people that paying for a subscription is a great idea after years and years of being able to use the platform for free.