Some marketing agencies say their brands don't plan to return to advertise on X, and others are advising brands to stop posting on X, after Elon Musk's comments
yourself’ comment to advertisers Rocio Fabbro / The Messenger : Some Advertisers Won't Return to X After Musk's Profanity-Filled Tirade Jak Connor / TweakTown : X advertisers say they won't be returning after Elon Musk told them to ‘f***’ off Wall Street Journal : Elon Musk's F-Bombs Make Linda Yaccarino's Job at X Even Harder Mike Masnick / Techdirt : Elon, After Personally Driving Away Advertisers, Tells Them To Go Fuck Themselves (Repeatedly), And Says ‘Earth’ Will ‘Judge’ Them For Killing ExTwitter Lucinda Southern / Adweek : Elon Musk's Latest Comments Spur More Quiet Quitting From Brands Mastodon: @danblondell@masto.nyc : @Techmeme anti-semitism: potentially forgivable — saying “go fuck yourself”: never forget Ernie Smith / @ernie@writing.exchange : Turns out, shouting “go fuck yourself” to a room of business executives during a high-profile televised conference isn't a winning business strategy. https://www.nytimes.com/... Kevin Beaumont / @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social : After telling advertisers, who make 90% of Twitter's revenue, to “go fuck yourselves” yesterday, many remaining advertisers have now decided to pull their business, report both the New York Times and Adweek. — Also many large companies have stopped tweeting. — https://www.nytimes.com/... X: Linda Yaccarino / @lindayax : Today @elonmusk gave a wide ranging and candid interview at @dealbook 2023. He also offered an apology, an explanation and an explicit point of view about our position. X is enabling an information independence that's uncomfortable for some people. We're a platform that allows... Jack Lynch / @jacklynch000 : Now, see, I really expected the “go fuck yourself” strategy to lure some advertisers back, at least the ones who could tolerate a LITTLE pro-Nazi propaganda from the owner of the platform. https://www.nytimes.com/... LinkedIn: Paris Marx : Yesterday Elon Musk told advertisers to go fuck themselves and threatened to send his mob after them if they pull their ads from Twitter/X. … Forums: r/LeopardsAteMyFace : Angry social media company owner insults advertisers who've left; even more advertisers consider leaving r/Twitter : Advertisers Say They Do Not Plan to Return to X After Musk's Comments | Elon Musk, the owner of X, criticized advertisers with expletives on Wednesday at The New York Times's DealBook Summit. See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
The agency guidance follows Apple's pause of X advertising amid brand-safety concerns and Musk's public rebuke of departing advertisers. It turns an advertiser-by-advertiser decision into a recommendation that can be applied across agency client rosters.
The episode also puts pressure on X's sales organization: related coverage shows it was moving toward SMB-focused ad sales and outside sales support as large-brand spending became less dependable.
First-order effects
- Brands represented by agencies urging a halt face an immediate reduction in paid and organic activity on X, while X loses access to agency-mediated ad budgets.
- Agency teams must reassess whether X can meet clients' brand-safety and reputational requirements following Musk's comments.
Second-order effects
- X has greater incentive to replace disrupted large-brand spending with smaller advertisers and alternative sales channels, potentially changing the mix of advertisers it serves.
- Competitor platforms and other media channels can receive budgets and publishing activity redirected by agency guidance, especially where brands require lower perceived placement risk.
Third-order effects
- If agency recommendations continue to shape platform participation, brand safety becomes a distribution-level liability: a platform's leadership conduct can affect both ad demand and publishers' willingness to maintain a presence.
- The pattern could make advertiser coordination and platform responses a more contested part of the ad market, as later coverage of X's dispute with ad-industry groups suggests.
The trend: Platform advertising is becoming more contingent on brand-safety governance, with agencies acting as a key gatekeeper between platforms and major marketing budgets.