Musk tries to woo advertisers after his ‘go f*** yourself’ comment

Elon Musk has clarified his controversial “Go f**k yourself” slur made to advertisers last year. During his appearance at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week, he said the comment was to those pushing for censorship on social media platforms.

Last year in November, Musk lashed out at an event after major advertisers like Apple, IBM, Disney, and Sony withdrew their ads from X due to his seemingly antisemitic tweets and problematic ad placements within the platform. He equated the action of advertisers threatening to stop spending on the platform to blackmail.

But during the recent discussion onstage, Musk acknowledged advertisers’ rights to choose suitable content for their brands.

Musk’s participation at the festival is seen as an effort to regain advertising revenue for X. The five-day event draws thousands of chief marketing officers, tech leaders, and creative workers, among others.

Musk needs to woo many ad execs
Recent company documents obtained by Bloomberg show the social media platform lost $456 million in the first quarter of 2023.

Ads make up 90% of X’s revenue.

X also faces competition from other social media giants like Meta, Snapchat and Reddit for ad dollars.