I became your enemy because I tell you the truth
Elon Musk has accused activist groups of “trying to destroy free speech in America” by pressuring advertisers to boycott Twitter, saying Twitter has suffered a “massive” drop in advertising revenues following the campaign.
In a tweet posted to the platform, Mr. Musk said that the pressure campaign was launched even though nothing has changed regarding Twitter’s content moderation efforts and that he and his team did “everything we could to appease the activists.”
NY Sun: He added that what the activists are doing is “extremely messed up,” saying that they are “trying to destroy free speech in America.”
In the days since Mr. Musk took over Twitter, a number of companies have reportedly paused advertising on the platform while the dust he kicked up in the process of buying it settles.
The Wall Street Journal said major players such as General Mills, Mondelez International, Pfizer, and Volkswagen are worried that Mr. Musk’s planned retreat on moderation could lead to an increase in objectionable content; others are concerned about the exodus of executives and want to see what changes he makes before restarting the ads.
The Journal cited one advertising industry executive as saying that about 20 of its clients had suspended advertising. General Motors said last week that it was doing the same, a move it described as normal when a media platform undergoes substantial change. “We are engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform,” GM said.
Jordan Schachtel reports that the campaign is being led by “a network of Left wing dark money activists with ties to prominent Democrat politicians and mega donors”.
The campaign to pull corporate advertising from Twitter, following its purchase by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, is being led by a network of left wing dark money activists with ties to prominent Democrat politicians and mega donors.
An advocacy group formed in 2020 called Accountable Tech is organising the pressure campaign, which has thus far succeeded in having the likes of Pfizer, Audi, General Mills and other corporations pull their advertising expenditures from the platform.
Accountable Tech has taken credit for organising an “open letter” signed by dozens of progressive groups, which demanded that multinational corporations cease advertising with Twitter immediately.
The Far Left activist groups wrote:
We, the undersigned organisations, 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.
>So who funds Accountable Tech?
Accountable Tech is financed by The North Fund, a D.C. nonprofit that is controlled by Arabella Advisors. Yes, there are multiple levels of confusion and separation, and this is on purpose. But the relevant outfit here is Arabella Advisors.
“Arabella” is a for-profit “philanthropic consulting company” founded by Clinton confidant Eric Kessler. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Jesse Lehrich, another Clinton network operative, is a co-founder of Accountable Tech. The organisation also employs former Clinton campaign operative Zach Praiss as its Digital Director.
Arabella is considered the leading “dark money” political outfit in the United States. Yes, it’s much bigger and much more influential than the highly publicised “Koch Network.”
The Arabella network shields the sources of its funding by funneling its cash and political expenditures through 501c4 non profits. However, its for-profit outfit brought in $1.7 billion in 2020, and spent $1.2 billion on the 2020 election cycle.
Through its subsidiaries, Arabella has dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into projects such as fighting the Kavanaugh nomination and impeaching President Donald Trump. It has also financed the “NeverTrump” political advocacy of progressive war activist Bill Kristol.
So who funds Arabella?
Major direct and indirect Arabella donors include globalist billionaire George Soros and progressive eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, according to Politico.
Advertisers boycott Twitter as Elon Musk accuses campaign groups of censoring free speech
Billionaire complains of ‘massive’ drop in revenues as site sacks thousands of staff
By Matthew Field and James Warrington • The Telegraoh • 4 November 2022 •
Elon Musk has accused “activist groups” of “trying to destroy free speech in America” by pressuring advertisers to boycott Twitter, amid swingeing job cuts at the tech company.
The tech billionaire, who took control of the social media website just over a week ago, said Twitter had suffered a “massive” drop in advertising revenues.
The billionaire blamed the fall on “activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists”.
He added: “They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.”
On Friday, the pressure group Stop Hate for Profit, which led an advertising boycott of Facebook in 2020 that cost the social network tens of millions of dollars, urged companies to stop dealing with Twitter. The group, which is organised by the US Anti-Defamation League, said: “We are calling on advertisers to pause their spend globally.”
It came as Volkswagen told its brands, which include Bentley, Porsche and Lamborghini, to halt marketing on the social media site until further notice.
It is the latest company to sever ties with Twitter following Musk’s tumultuous $44bn (£38bn) takeover.
Audi, one of VW’s brands, had already suspended advertising, while Carlsberg, Cadbury’s owner Mondelez and Pfizer have also distanced themselves.
The unofficial boycott gathered pace as Mr Musk began a programme of mass sackings at Twitter. 3,700 staff members – roughly half the workforce – were set to lose their jobs…
Michael Loyman