After Elon Musk attacked some of the biggest media personalities at a New York Times DealBook event for leaving the platform, more advertisers are probably going to leave his social network business X, according to experts on Thursday.
Earlier this month, Walt Disney (DIS.N) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.O) halted their advertising on X after Musk endorsed an antisemitic article that erroneously claimed Jews were inciting hatred against White people.
After apologizing for his post at the event on Wednesday, Musk unleashed a profanity-laced tirade against some of the advertisers for fleeing the platform.
The Tesla (TSLA.O) chief also acknowledged that an extended boycott by advertisers could bankrupt X, formerly Twitter, but suggested that the public would blame the brands and not him for a potential collapse.
However, Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg said, “If anyone is killing X, it’s Elon Musk – not advertisers.”
“Should X collapse, an autopsy would reveal a series of platform policy decisions, staffing cuts, tweets and antagonistic comments by Musk that have driven away X’s primary source of revenue,” Enberg said.
The company has come under fire for lax content moderation, especially from advertisers who do not want their ads appearing next to inappropriate content.