Companies have moved to pause advertising on Twitter amid Elon Musk’s controversial first week as CEO which has intensified following Friday’s announcement of job cuts to potentially half of its workforce.
Both Audi and General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Inc have joined General Motors Co in halting advertising on Twitter in reaction to Musk’s takeover.
Musk’s Twitter saga took a dark turn as Twitter staff received an unsigned email outlining that mass jobs cuts would take place on Friday, with some people reporting they had already been locked out of their work accounts.
As a result of the nearly 4,000 anticipated job cuts, a class action lawsuit has already been filed against the company.
With over 90% of Twitter’s revenue coming from ad sales in the second quarter, the halting of payments could potentially spell a hit for the social media platform, which Musk is looking to make “healthy.”
Audi, owned by Volkswagen Group (XETRA:VOW), said it will “continue to evaluate the situation," after pausing advertising on Thursday.
General Mills (NYSE:GIS) owner of ‘Cheerios’ cereal, also commented it “will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate marketing spend.”
Last week, Elon Musk sent an open letter to advertisers outlining his plans to make Twitter “the most respected advertising platform in the world,” boasting tailored adverts that could be regarded as “content” rather than “spam.”
Widespread staff cuts have been rumoured ever since Elon Musk completed his $44bn takeover of Twitter last week. Senior executives were fired on the first day he took over.
Aside from the job cuts, Musk has said a verification charge could be added, as well as potential changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies, raising concerns about hate speech on the platform.