Amazon has lifted its ad spending on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), with CEO Andy Jassy reportedly personally involved in the decision.
A report in the Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources familiar with the situation, said that the ecommerce giant had pulled much of its spending a year ago.
A litany of the world’s top advertisers pulled their spending on the platform following reports that incidents of hate speech had grown on the platform following Musk’s takeover.
Since Elon Musk bought X in late 2022, its global revenues are forecast to more than halve to $1.9 billion. A report from Kantar said that more than a quarter (26 per cent) of marketers are planning to cut their spend on X.
The WSJ said that Jassy’s decision could result in Amazon “spending significantly more” on X.
It also said that Apple, which pulled all of its ad dollars from X in late 2023, has also been having discussions about boosting its spend on the platform.
Some large companies that have cut or stopped advertising on X are reportedly re-evaluating their stances in a changing political and social climate.
With Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s reassessment of content moderation on Instagram and Facebook to follow an X-style community notes system, perhaps it would seem hypocritical to advertisers to spend with one business and not the other.
Ad buyers who spoke to the WSJ said that some brands that are returning to X are doing so at spending levels that are still well below their spending before Musk acquired the company, then known as Twitter, for US$44 billion in 2022.
Musk is now involved in the Trump administration, leading the Department of Government Efficiency. Other US big tech leaders are becoming cosier with the Trump government.
Announcing Meta’s Q4 results yesterday, Zuckerberg said “This is also going to be a big year for redefining our relationship with governments. We now have a US administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritises American technology
winning, and that will defend our values and interests abroad. And I’m optimistic about the progress and innovation this is going to unlock.”
B&T contacted Amazon for comment.
