A growing list of companies, including General Mills, Pfizer, and Audi, are putting their Twitter advertising on hold as they await the results of changes coming to the social media platform.
Twitter employees received a company memo Thursday evening alerting them of impending layoffs beginning Friday morning. New Twitter CEO Elon Musk is expected to go ahead with plans to lay off about half of Twitter’s workforce of thousands following a review by him and his deputies. Musk has also teased revamping the platform’s verification process and charging users $8 for their blue check mark.
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Advertisers, however, are concerned content moderation could be scaled back, leading to an increase in objectionable content, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“As always, we will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend,” a spokeswoman for General Mills said.
General Mills — whose brands include Cheerios, Bisquick, and Haagen-Dazs — Pfizer, and Audi are joining General Motors in temporarily pausing their paid advertising on Twitter.
Advertising companies Interpublic Group and Havas Media also recommended the pausing of ads to their clients earlier this week.
“The current situation is unpredictable and chaotic, and bad actors and unsafe behaviors can thrive in such an environment,” Interpublic Group reportedly wrote in an email Monday. “At this moment, we cannot confidently state that Twitter is a safe place for brands.”
The advertising agencies have indicated that Twitter is not a “must-buy,” with larger budgets going to other Big Tech companies, including Meta Platforms and Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022
Musk has attempted to reassure advertisers that Twitter is a safe place, tweeting last week that the social media platform “cannot become a free-for-all hellscape.”
“Fundamentally, Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens your brand and grows your enterprise,” Musk added.
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Since, the new Twitter CEO has reportedly had several meetings and video chats with advertising companies, discussing his ideas to address areas of concern that range from engineering to security.
