Twitter may start to see its revenue nosedive, as Fortune 500 corporations, including Coca-Cola, Amazon, and Apple, were enjoined to boycott the tech giant.
BizWatch Nigeria understands that the corporations are Twitter’s major revenue sources, accounting for about 90%. Basically, the messaging app’s turnover is driven by Coca-Cola, Amazon, Apple, Best Buy Co., and Comcast Corp.
Others include Verizon Communications Inc., Walt Disney Co., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Merck & Co., Unilever PLC, Meta Platforms Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Procter & Gamble Co.
However, as Elon Musk claimed ownership of Twitter after concluding the $44 billion purchase, more than 40 activist organisations, led by co-founder and executive director of digital rights group Accountable Tech, Nicole Gill, wrote to 20 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Fortune 500 firms to publicly assure their customers that if the billionaire allows conspiracy theories, hate speech, misinformation rise on the micro-blogging site, their firms would withdraw their business relationships.
The activists’ request for the CEOs to pull out their ads from Twitter followed Musk’s promise that the app would be more open to free speech, in contrast to the era when the platform was publicly owned.
The billionaire had argued that the content moderation policy of Twitter needs to change, criticising the hasty ban placed on users of the platform. He had also stated that a council will be set up to preside over major content decisions or account reinstatements.
However, shortly after his acquisition, slur words returned to the platform, with some bot accounts using the ‘N’ word, amongst other discriminatory words.
“Elon Musk is an erratic billionaire who has promised to roll back critical safeguards Twitter has put in place and replatform extremists who have repeatedly spewed hate, incited violence, and undermined our democracy.
“Advertisers have both the power and the responsibility to hold him to account and they must — not only for their own brand safety but for the integrity of our now crumbling information ecosystem.
“We, the undersigned organizations, call on you to notify Musk and publicly commit that you will cease all advertising on Twitter globally if he follows through on his plans to undermine brand safety and community standards, including gutting content moderation,” the letter read.
