عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Technology

Elon Musk's X Sues Advertisers over Alleged 'Massive Advertiser Boycott' after Twitter Takeover

Billionaire Elon Musk reacting- File Phot/Reuters
Billionaire Elon Musk reacting- File Phot/Reuters
TT
TT

Elon Musk's X Sues Advertisers over Alleged 'Massive Advertiser Boycott' after Twitter Takeover

Billionaire Elon Musk reacting- File Phot/Reuters
Billionaire Elon Musk reacting- File Phot/Reuters

Elon Musk's social media platform X has sued a group of advertisers, alleging that a “massive advertiser boycott” deprived the company of billions of dollars in revenue and violated antitrust laws.

The company formerly known as Twitter filed the lawsuit Tuesday in a federal court in Texas against the World Federation of Advertisers and member companies Unilever, Mars, CVS Health and Orsted.

According to Reuters, it accused the advertising group's brand safety initiative, called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, of helping to coordinate a pause in advertising after Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and overhauled its staff and policies.

Musk posted about the lawsuit on X on Tuesday, saying “now it is war” after two years of being nice and “getting nothing but empty words.”

X CEO Linda Yaccarino said in a video announcement that the lawsuit stemmed in part from evidence uncovered by the US House Judiciary Committee which she said showed a “group of companies organized a systematic illegal boycott” against X.

The Republican-led committee had a hearing last month looking at whether current laws are “sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion in online advertising.”

The lawsuit’s allegations center on the early days of Musk’s Twitter takeover and not a more recent dispute with advertisers that came a year later.

In November 2023, about a year after Musk bought the company, a number of advertisers began fleeing X over concerns about their ads showing up next to pro-Nazi content and hate speech on the site in general, with Musk inflaming tensions with his own posts endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

Musk later said those fleeing advertisers were engaging in “blackmail” and, using a profanity, essentially told them to go away.

The Belgium-based World Federation of Advertisers and representatives for CVS, Orsted, Mars and Unilever didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

A top Unilever executive testified at last month's congressional hearing, defending the British consumer goods company's practice of choosing to put ads on platforms that won't harm its brand.

“Unilever, and Unilever alone, controls our advertising spending,” said prepared written remarks by Herrish Patel, president of Unilever USA. “No platform has a right to our advertising dollar.”

Most Viewed

 
 
Technology

New Brazil Law Restricts Use of Smartphones in Elementary and High Schools

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaks at a ceremony for the signing of a bill that restricts the use of cellphones in schools nationwide, at the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP)
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaks at a ceremony for the signing of a bill that restricts the use of cellphones in schools nationwide, at the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP)
TT
TT

New Brazil Law Restricts Use of Smartphones in Elementary and High Schools

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaks at a ceremony for the signing of a bill that restricts the use of cellphones in schools nationwide, at the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP)
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaks at a ceremony for the signing of a bill that restricts the use of cellphones in schools nationwide, at the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP)

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Monday signed a bill restricting the use of smartphones at school, following a global trend for such limitations.

The move will impact students at elementary and high schools across the South American nation starting in February. It provides a legal framework to ensure students only use such devices in cases of emergency and danger, for educational purposes, or if they have disabilities and require them.

"We cannot allow humanism to be replaced by algorithms," Lula said in a closed ceremony at the presidential palace in the capital, Brasilia, adding that the bill "acknowledges the work of every serious person in education, everyone who wants to take care of children and teenagers in this country."

In May, Fundacao Getulio Vargas, a leading think-tank and university, said Brazil had more smartphones than people, with 258 million devices for a population of 203 million Brazilians. Local market researchers said last year that Brazilians spend 9 hours and 13 minutes per day on screens, one of the world's highest figures.

Education minister Camilo Santana told journalists that children are going online at early ages, making it harder for parents to keep track of what they do, and that restricting smartphones at school will help them.

The bill had rare support across the political spectrum, both from allies of leftist Lula and his far-right foe, former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Many parents and students also approved the move. A survey released in October by Brazilian pollster Datafolha said that almost two-thirds of respondents supported banning the use of smartphones by children and teenagers at schools. More than three-quarters said those devices do more harm than good to their children.

"(Restricting cellphones) is tough, but necessary. It is useful for them to do searches for school, but to use it socially isn't good," said Ricardo Martins Ramos, 43, father of two girls and the owner of a hamburger restaurant in Rio de Janeiro. "Kids will interact more."

His 13-year-old daughter Isabela said her classmates struggled to focus during class because of their smartphones. She approved the move, but doesn't see it as enough to improve the learning environment for everyone.

"When the teacher lets you use the cellphone, it is because he wants you to do searches," she said. "There's still a lot of things that schools can't solve, such as bullying and harassment."

As of 2023, about two-thirds of Brazilian schools imposed some restriction on cellphone use, while 28% banned them entirely, according to a survey released in August by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee.

The Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro, Maranhao and Goias have already passed local bills to ban such devices at schools. However, authorities have struggled to enforce these laws.

Authorities in Sao Paulo, the most populous state in Brazil, are discussing whether smartphones should be banned both in public and private schools.

Gabriele Alexandra Henriques Pinheiro, 25, works at a beauty parlor and is the mother of a boy diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. She also agrees with the restrictions, but says adults will continue to be a bad example of smartphone use for children.

"It is tough," she said. "I try to restrict the time my son watches any screens, but whenever I have a task to perform I have to use the smartphone to be able to do it all," she said.

Institutions, governments, parents and others have for years associated smartphone use by children with bullying, suicidal ideation, anxiety and loss of concentration necessary for learning. China moved last year to limit children’s use of smartphones, while France has in place a ban on smartphones in schools for kids aged six to 15.

Cellphone bans have gained traction across the United States, where eight states have passed laws or policies that ban or restrict cellphone use to try to curb student phone access and minimize distractions in classrooms.

An increasing number of parents across Europe who are concerned by evidence that smartphone use among young kids jeopardizes their safety and mental health.

A report published in September by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, said one in four countries has already restricted the use of such devices at schools.

Last year in a US Senate hearing, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to parents of children exploited, bullied or driven to self-harm via social media. He also noted Meta’s continued investments in "industrywide" efforts to protect children.