Wall street journal twitter free#

“Elon doesn’t understand how advertising works,” said Lou Paskalis, a longtime ad industry executive and founder of AJL Advisory, a firm that consults with brands on their marketing strategies. All of this, insiders say, has resulted in weaker trust in Twitter among a relatively small group of people who control major ad budgets. Making matters worse, some advertising executives say they no longer know who to talk to about their concerns because Musk has fired or laid off many key members of Twitter’s sales and brand safety teams.

Wall street journal twitter free#

Musk has taken a lax approach to content moderation - such as allowing Neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and other controversial figures back on the platform in the name of free speech.Ĭompanies also worry about affiliating with Musk himself as he continues to post offensive tweets, including a recent one mocking a disabled Twitter employee (Musk apologized after facing widespread backlash). Major corporations don’t want to jeopardize what they call “brand safety” by associating with offensive content. Sources described a lack of confidence in Musk’s ability to keep his promises about stopping Twitter from turning into a “free-for-all hellscape,” high turnover in Twitter’s sales department, and confusion about the company’s policies regarding content moderation.Ĭhief among their concerns is a perception that Musk has turned Twitter into a place where people can post racist, sexist, or otherwise harmful speech without much consequence. Vox spoke with several advertising executives, former Twitter employees, and other industry insiders who explained why Twitter’s relationship with advertisers continues to suffer. Fewer people also appear to be visiting Twitter’s website where advertisers create ad campaigns: The number of users visiting Twitter’s advertising portal page was down 18 percent in February compared to a year before, according to data from digital intelligence firm SimilarWeb. That affects Twitter’s bottom line: The company’s revenue was down by 40 percent, according to a December report by the Wall Street Journal. Out of Twitter’s top 10 advertisers pre-acquisition, only six still advertise on the platform, according to the firm. More than half of Twitter’s top 1,000 advertisers before the acquisition have stopped advertising on the platform as of February, according to data from digital marketing analysis firm Pathmatics and shared with Vox. Almost five months later, the company’s standing with the advertisers that historically make up 90 percent of its revenue still hasn’t measurably improved. It’s been a rocky pairing since October, when Musk officially took over and many big-name advertisers paused spending on the platform. Twitter’s survival in the coming months depends on how its new owner, Elon Musk, manages his relationship with a key group of people: advertisers. All Rights Reserved.There’s no getting around it.

shares, saying he did it to help Twitter, one of the people said.Ĭopyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. He also gave the first public explanation for his recent sale of Tesla Inc. Musk also spoke about ending remote work for most Twitter employees, saying they needed to come to the office if able, the people said. Musk’s bankruptcy comment came in an all-hands meeting with Twitter’s staff on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter, on the heels of a memo to employees in which he warned of the “dire” economic challenges facing the company. suffered additional senior executive departures as owner Elon Musk said bankruptcy is a possibility for the company, adding to the chaos that has engulfed the social media platform in the two weeks since the billionaire took it over. He addressed questions about hate speech and content moderation on the platform. Elon Musk discussed his plans for Twitter while speaking at a conference on Friday.