In 2022 the coalition 'Stop Toxic Twitter', composed of around 60 organisations, called on advertisers to "cease all advertising on Twitter globally" whilst owner Elon Musk fails to uphold community standards and content moderation.
Its website lists a range of brands that have stopped advertising on Twitter (such as Allianz, Apple and Coca-cola) and ones that hadn't. It claimed that over 500 advertisers had stopped advertising on Twitter as of February 2023.
One of the coalition's members, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), calls on people to sign their names to tell brands like Apple that they want them to stop advertising on the platform. It says "Brands must stop bankrolling the spread of hate and disinformation."
According to CDDG, "In July 2023, Elon Musk and X Corp. filed a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, blaming the nonprofit for ‘tens of millions of dollars’ in lost advertising revenue after the organization reported on hate speech and misinformation on the platform". It appears that Musk lost the lawsuit in March 2024. The judge described the case as a "a blatant attempt to intimidate researchers and critics."
In August 2024 it was announced that Elon Musk is trying to sue a group of advertisers and major companies, accusing them of unlawfully agreeing to "boycott" the site, including Unilever and Mars. Legal experts say the case is unlikely to succeed.
Read more in our article on the growing boycott of X/Twitter.