A year ago, Elon Musk told finger-wagging woke corporations to buzz off (well, not exactly in those words). Now, he is riding high as President-elect Donald Trump’s sidekick, and those big-brand advertisers who tried to play their “unacceptable hate” games by leaving X are making their way back to the wildly popular social media platform, out of need if not desire.
It was an orchestrated cancel campaign instantly recognizable to anyone who has been paying attention to progressive establishment tactics for the past 16-odd years. In March 2023, thoroughly discredited activist organization the Anti-Defamation League posted a report accusing X of refusing to take action against dangerous hate speech. In November of that year, Musk clumsily got himself entangled in an anti-Semitism imbroglio over a post on the site that his political and big-media opponents quickly seized upon to further hammer away at him. That same month, the leftist agitators at Media Matters for America appeared to manipulate X’s algorithm so that the site displayed advertisers’ messages alongside neo-Nazi and white supremacist posts.
Those shenanigans would eventually draw a lawsuit from Musk. As a result of all this, several major corporations announced a “pause” on ads on the site. And that made Musk angry.
He was being played, and he knew it.
‘Don’t Advertise’
Asked if he was concerned that these advertisers would leave X, Musk told The New York Times, “I hope they stop. Don’t advertise.”
“If somebody’s going to try and blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go f— yourself,” he continued. “Go. F— Yourself,” he repeated. “Is that clear? I hope it is. Hey, Bob, if you’re in the audience. That’s how I feel. Don’t advertise.” Bob would be Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, one of the corporations that pulled its ads from X.
Fast forward a year, and Donald Trump has just won a decisive victory over Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris, capturing the popular vote outright. Progressive scolding about “epidemics of hate” and “threats to democracy” is as stale as late-night network television, and the chastising advertisers of 12 months ago have no choice but to head where the action is.
X Marks the Spot
“Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump is set to boost X’s flagging business, with some marketers poised for a return to the social media platform in order to seek favor with the incoming administration,” UK newspaper The Financial Times glumly reported on Nov. 13.
Hey, Elon, who loves you, buddy?
“Lou Paskalis, chief executive of marketing consultancy AJL Advisory and a former media executive at Bank of America, said some marketers were likely to reallocate spending back to X as ‘political leverage,’ such as if they were seeking government contracts,” FT writes. “He added companies would seek to get in the ‘good graces of Elon,’ who has been given a wide remit by Trump as co-head of a new Department of Government Efficiency.” What was once beyond the pale is now suddenly acceptable again. This is what a national election rout can do.
“X’s former top advertisers including Comcast, IBM, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Lionsgate Entertainment, have resumed ad spending on the platform this year, albeit at much lower rates than before,” AdWeek reported Nov. 14.
The slow slink back comes as progressive celebrities quit the outsized platform to strut their ongoing rejection of all things Trump. Former CNN host Don Lemon and MSNBC host Joy Reid are two of the dearly departed.
“I once believed it was a place for honest discussion and debate, transparency and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose,” Lemon said after his exodus. “I just didn’t want to contribute content once it was purchased by its present owner,” Reid explained.
Such self-marginalization may be easy enough for a pair of media “personalities” who make their living bashing Trump and spouting all the usual canned progressive bromides. But things aren’t so simple for profit-driven corporations. Trump’s victory is the elephant in the room that can no longer be ignored. Companies that need to sell product know they cannot afford to cut themselves off from 76-million-plus Americans just because it feels good.
The Musk mini-saga proves that powerful executive suite elites don’t get to call all the shots, that ultimately they must go where the market is. The lesson for conservatives: Don’t be intimidated by these people. Don’t kowtow to their hollow posturing. Do your thing, be successful, and they will have no choice but to come to you.
