Apple is reportedly pulling all of its adverts from X after Elon Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
The tech giant has allegedly also been concerned about its products being promoted alongside far-right content, according to Axios.
Why we care. As one of X’s longstanding major advertisers, Apple’s move to halt all ads is a powerful signal to other brands regarding the effectiveness of X as an advertising platform. Since Musk took over the social networking site last year, ad revenue has plummeted by 59%. Apple’s choice to withdraw its ads will undoubtedly be another huge blow for X’s ad revenue.
Far-right concerns. Apple, IBM, Amazon and Oracle were named as organizations whose ads appeared next to far-right posts on X, according to a report published by the left-leaning nonprofit Media Matters for America. IBM pulled all ads in response, with Apple becoming the latest major company to follow suit.
Antisemitic fears. More than 160 Jewish rabbis and activists have been calling on Apple, Google, Amazon and Disney to stop advertising on X after Musk endorsed an antisemitic post earlier this week. In response, X CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote in a post on the platform:
- “We have been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There’s no place for it anywhere in the world — it’s ugly and wrong. Full stop.”
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Deep dive. Read our report on X’s partnership with Google Ad Manager for more information on how the social platform is trying to salvage its advertising revenue.
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About the author
Nicola Agius is Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land after joining in 2023. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media and more. Prior to this, she was SEO Director at Jungle Creations (2020-2023), overseeing the company’s editorial strategy for multiple websites. She has over 15 years of experience in journalism and has previously worked at OK! Magazine (2010-2014), Mail Online (2014-2015), Mirror (2015-2017), Digital Spy (2017-2018) and The Sun (2018-2020). She also previously teamed up with SEO agency Blue Array to co-author Amazon bestselling book ‘Mastering In-House SEO’.