Elon Musk’s X sues advertisers over alleged ‘massive advertiser boycott’ after Twitter takeover

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

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — Elon Musk’s social media platform X has sued a group of advertisers, alleging a “massive advertiser boycott” has cost the company billions of dollars in revenue and violated antitrust laws.

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

It accused the advertising group’s 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 thoroughly review its personnel and policies.

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

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, said in a video message that the lawsuit stemmed in part from evidence uncovered by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which she said showed a “group of companies orchestrating a systematic illegal boycott” of X.

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