After IBM and Apple, Disney and Lionsgate have also decided to suspend their marketing activities on X, the social platform (formerly Twitter) owned by Elon Musk. The decision was based on Musk's endorsement of a post with anti-Semitic references on Wednesday.
Musk is again at the center of a storm. This time his comment on an anti-Semitic message posted on X sparked controversy. Commenting on a user's post accusing Jewish communities of riding "the same kind of dialectic of hatred against white people that they don't want to be used against them," Musk agreed: "It's the real truth."
Advertisers are fleeing social media platform X over concerns that their ads will appear alongside pro-Nazi content and hate speech on the site in general.
IBM said this week it had halted advertising on X after a report said its ads appeared alongside material praising Nazis — a fresh setback as the platform formerly known as Twitter seeks to win back big brands and their advertising dollars, X's main source of revenue.
Liberal advocacy group Media Matters said in a report Thursday that ads from Apple, Oracle, NBCUniversal's Bravo network and Comcast were also placed alongside anti-Semitic material on X.
"IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination, and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this completely unacceptable situation." the company said in a statement.
The European Union's executive branch said on Friday it would suspend advertising on X and other social media platforms, in part because of a wave of hate speech. Later in the day, Disney, Lionsgate and Paramount Global also said they would suspend or pause advertising on X.