Elon Musk’s X sues Lego, Nestlé and more brands, accusing them of advertising boycott

Elon Musk’s X broadened an existing lawsuit on Saturday to include several major brands — accusing more companies of illegally boycotting the social media platform in 2022 following Musk’s acquisition.

The suit, which was filed last year in a federal court in Texas, initially targeted the boycott organizer, the World Federation of Advertisers, along with companies including CVS and video-streaming platform Twitch.

But early on Saturday, Musk’s lawyers filed an amended complaint, adding several new defendants, including Lego, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate-Palmolive, Pinterest and Shell International.

The complaint alleges that the World Federation of Advertisers was concerned that X, formerly known as Twitter, would stray from its brand safety initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). As a result, the suit said the group prepared a large-scale pause in advertising.

According to the suit, at least 18 advertisers that were part of GARM stopped buying ads on Twitter either in the U.S. or globally in the weeks after Musk bought the platform in November 2022, while other members of GARM “substantially reduced” their ad spending on Twitter.

In turn, X claims it was deprived of billions of dollars in advertising revenue and the ramifications of the boycott continue to be felt years later, the suit alleged.

Lawyers for X argued that in a competitive market, social media platforms should have the option to set their own brand safety standards that are “optimal for that platform.”

“But collective action among competing advertisers to dictate brand safety standards to be applied by social media platforms shortcuts the competitive process and allows the collective views of a group of advertisers with market power to override the interests of consumer,” the complaint said.

The companies added to the lawsuit on Saturday did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment.

Musk has reshaped Twitter and its approach to what is and isn’t permitted on the social media platform. He reinstated accounts that had been barred for violating the platform’s rules. He also removed contract content moderators, the company’s human rights team and investigators tasked with curbing political manipulation and child sexual abuse material, as NPR previously reported.

Last year, following the suit, the World Federation of Advertisers discontinued GARM operations, explaining that “recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances.”