Elon Musk’s X Is Threatening Advertisers Into Spending Money — And It’s Working

The post Elon Musk’s X Is Threatening Advertisers Into Spending Money — And It’s Working appeared first on Android Headlines.

Jun 11, 2025 - 23:10

Elon Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino have an interesting new pitch for advertisers. Essentially, spend ad money on our platform, or we’ll sue you.

This all started, according to The Wall Street Journal, with Verizon. The company got an unusual message from X, saying “Spend your ad dollars with us or we’ll see you in court.”

Since Musk took over the platform in October 2022, the company has been struggling to get advertisers, as many have opted to leave the platform over various reasons, typically due to Musk’s actions.

The scary part of this pitch? It worked for Verizon. The company, who hadn’t advertised on X since Musk tookover, pledged to spend $10 million on the platform this year alone. According to a person familiar with the matter.

Verizon’s not alone; Ralph Lauren also received the same threat. WSJ cites sources claiming that at least six companies received this message. And the agreements include both firm ad-spending commitments and nonbinding targets.

These tactics are scary for marketers

Given Musk’s popularity and the megaphone he has on the platform – Musk does have 221 million followers – as well as his influence in Washington, this makes these strong-arm tactics pretty scary. Despite Musk’s fallout with Trump (which may or may not be real), he still has a lot of influence and has plenty of access to government officials.

In August 2024, X sued the World Federation of Advertisers and several advertisers, accusing them of engaging in an illegal boycott of the platform. X claimed that the companies were conspiring to withhold advertising in violation of antitrust laws.

This lawsuit was part of X’s strong-arm tactics. People familiar with the matter claimed that X threatened to add Verizon to the lawsuit if it did not start spending advertising dollars on the platform. This, apparently, was done with a handful of other companies as well.

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