Elon Musk sues Orsted as renewable energy giant swept up in 'boycott' row
Tesla and SpaceX owner Musk declares 'war' against Danish wind and solar group and other corporates that have stopped advertising on his social media platform
Elon Musk’s X has launched a lawsuit against Danish renewable energy giant Orsted and other corporates over their alleged “illegal boycott” of advertising on the social media platform over concerns about its owner and harmful content.
X, formerly Twitter, has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Orsted, food giants Mars and Unilever and private healthcare company CVS Health.
The lawsuit also names the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) trade association and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM).
Announcing the lawsuit yesterday, X CEO Linda Yaccarino cited a report from the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee as the basis for the lawsuit.
She cited a finding from the report that GARM and its members “organised boycotts and used other indirect tactics to target disfavoured platforms, content creators, and news organisations in an effort to demonetise and, in effect, limit certain choices for consumers.”
Musk, also the owner of electric vehicle maker and energy storage group Tesla and SpaceX, is a controversial character known for his social media spats. Just this week he has clashed with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer over what he said was “one-sided” policing against far-right and anti-immigration rioters in the country.
The report and X’s Texas lawsuit cite conversations between Orsted, GARM and WFA employees citing concerns over Musk’s ownership of X shortly after he took over in October 2022.
An Orsted employee is quoted in 2023 saying that after Musk’s takeover “we chose to take off all of our paid advertisement on the platform due to brand safety concerns.”
The employee also asks for advice on what Orsted should do. “What are other global advertisers doing – have they come back to the platform, or are they still off?”
As well as Musk’s personal controversies, companies have been concerned over advertisements showing up next to pro-Nazi posts. X has strongly denied this is an issue, emphasising its robust content controls.
Musk himself last year, while apologising for endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, told advertisers to “go f*** yourself” if they wanted to “blackmail me with money” over their concerns.
In her post yesterday, Yaccarino said that “people are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is undermined and some viewpoints are not funded over others as part of an illegal boycott.”
“The illegal behaviour of these organisations and their executives cost X billions of dollars,” she said. Advertising revenue at X reportedly slumped by more than 50% in the year after Musk bought the platform.
Musk, in his inimitable style, put it more bluntly in his own post on X: “We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war.”
Orsted declined to comment.
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