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Billionaire Elon Musk erroneously blamed "activist groups" for a "massive drop" in Twitter's ad revenue after multiple companies stopped advertising on the platform after he officially purchased it for $44 billion.
Fresh off acquiring the platform—which he'd repeatedly claimed needs to go private if it wants to become a platform for free speech—Musk claimed that the aforementioned "activist groups" successfully pressured advertisers "even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease" them.
Calling the whole situation "Extremely messed up," Musk accused this nameless group of "trying to destroy free speech in America."
You can see Musk's tweet below.
\u201cTwitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.\n\nExtremely messed up! They\u2019re trying to destroy free speech in America.\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1667572100
Shortly after Musk posted his tweet, Twitter added a fact-check disclaimer and posted links to multiple news stories explaining that the advertising exodus has happened amid concerns about Musk's vision for the platform "especially as related to content moderation."
The disclaimer was meant to provide additional "context" to Musk's claim but Musk ultimately deleted it, suggesting that his concerns about content moderation don't apply to his own misleading tweets.
Nimble Twitter users managed to post screenshots of the fact-check disclaimer before it disappeared.
\u201cI\u2019m dying \ud83e\udd23\u2026Elon hit with a fact check by the app he just dropped $44B on\u201d— Wu-Tang is for the Children (@Wu-Tang is for the Children) 1667580489
Several high-profile companies, including General Mills and Volkswagen, confirmed to CNN that they would be pausing advertisements on Twitter due to concerns about Musk's ownership of the platform. Others, like Toyota and Interpublic Group, the parent company of Coca-Cola, also recommended that their clients pause advertising on Twitter.
Criticisms about Musk's leadership style have been magnified in light of his decision to layoff roughly half the workforce, including employees who were on work visas. There was no advance warning for who would or would not be subject to the cuts, and at least one Twitter employee told reporters that they were booted from company systems in the middle of a meeting.
His tantrum—and hypocrisy over content moderation—have only fueled his detractors.
\u201cPerfect example of irony\u201d— Glenn Wasielewski (@Glenn Wasielewski) 1667602041
\u201cIt\u2019s almost like mass layoffs incentivize your staff to hate you and make you look bad\u201d— Ranger Frog (@Ranger Frog) 1667605123
\u201cThis is what happens when you fire your development team within a week of buying a company with a massive digital infrastructure. There's no one to fix it, no one left to yell at, and no quick fix available that doesn't result in an outage. \ud83d\ude04\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25\u201d— Cy (@Cy) 1667613455
\u201cIt's really something when you get caught gaslighting & lying by your own product, it doesn't bode well for earning the consumer's trust, especially LIE-ing right out of the gate & 'YOU' appear to be the Biggest Problem! \ud83d\ude44\u201d— D. Bryght (@D. Bryght) 1667598674
\u201cBrilliant. It seems the guy doesn\u2019t understand how capitalism works.\u201d— Big in Japan (@Big in Japan) 1667600730
\u201c@elonmusk you\u2019re a mess. And you\u2019re ruining twitter.\u201d— SZ, B.S. M.A. \ud83c\udf3b (@SZ, B.S. M.A. \ud83c\udf3b) 1667597450
\u201cIt's a shame what's happening to Twitter, but it's delicious what's happening to Elon Musk and to Elon's Twitter.\u201d— Sterling (@Sterling) 1667584384
This is the second time in just over a week that Musk has been called out for spreading false information on Twitter.
In the aftermath of the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi, who survived after being repeatedly struck with a hammer during a home invasion, Musk shared an article from the far-right Santa Monica Observer claiming that Pelosi was attacked by a lover he met at a bar in the middle of the night.
There is no truth to that allegation, and local authorities confirmed that Pelosi and his attacker—who has been charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, and burglary—did not know each other.