• X (formerly Twitter) CEO, Linda Yaccarino, has detailed a lawsuit filed against advertisers who have chosen not to use the platform.
• Yaccarino claims that despite new tools being rolled out to appease advertiser concerns, they have not returned as hoped.
• Elon Musk famously told advertisers to “go f**k yourself” late last year.

For those keeping count, Elon Musk has filed two lawsuits this week – one in his personal capacity and the other for X. The latter is the latest and involves advertisers who have chosen not to feature ads on the platform ever since Musk took over as owner, citing concerns regarding rampant hate speech being allowed to fester on the platform.

X CEO, Linda Yaccarino, detailed the elements of the lawsuit in an exhaustive post on X, with an antitrust lawsuit being filed against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and several of its key members.

“We have met and surpassed the requests made by advertisers and groups such as GARM for new tools, both to improve advertiser controls and the effectiveness of our products to drive increased value for our customers… We have proven our platform provides advertisers a way to showcase their brands and reach their target audiences safely, efficiently and effectively,” wrote Yaccarino.

“To those who broke the law, we say enough is enough. We are compelled to seek justice for the harm that has been done by these and potentially additional defendants, depending what the legal process reveals… It’s also clear that there are likely others who suffered at the hands of this activity. This case is about more than damages – we have to fix a broken ecosystem that allows this illegal activity to occur,” she added.

At the time of writing, GARM has not officially commented on the matter, so it remains to be seen whether there has indeed been a coordinated effort to restrict X’s ability to operate by limiting advertising spend on the platform.

The lawsuit alleges that advertisers, “Conspired, along with dozens of non-defendant co-conspirators, to collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue from Twitter.”

Yaccarino, did not mince her words either, stating that, “The consequence – perhaps the intent – of this boycott was to seek to deprive X’s users, be they sports fans, gamers, journalists, activists, parents or political and corporate leaders, of the Global Town Square,” she outlined.

It is unclear what legal bodies will make of the lawsuit, but we suspect that previous infamous comments that X owner Elon Musk made last year with regard to his dealings with advertisers will factor in heavily, as he told those withholding money from the platform to “go f**k yourself”.

Either way it looks like we can add this lawsuit to the ever-growing list that Musk has tallied up in 2024.

[Image – Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash]