American automaker General Motors (GM) has temporarily halted paid advertising on Twitter after Elon Musk's takeover of the social media giant on Friday. General Motors, which is a rival of Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla, said in a statement that it was engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under its new ownership.
"As is normal course of business with a significant change in a media platform, we have temporarily paused our paid advertising. Our customer care interactions on Twitter will continue,” the automaker said in a statement on Friday, a report by news agency Reuters highlighted.
Apart from GM, another American automaker - Ford - said that it will not put advertisements on Twitter. A spokesperson from Ford told CNBC on Friday that the automaker is not advertising on the social media giant, adding it had not been doing so prior to Musk's private deal. “We will continue to evaluate the direction of the platform under the new ownership,” the spokesperson said.
Advertisement sales accounted for over 90 per cent of Twitter's revenue in the second quarter. During a presentation for advertisers back in May, as per the Reuters report, some agencies had brands that had been sceptical and concerned over Twitter's future, a month after Musk reached a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
On the eve of the takeover, Elon Musk wrote to advertisers on Twitter, explaining his decision to acquire the social media platform. “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk said on Thursday.
{{/usCountry}}On the eve of the takeover, Elon Musk wrote to advertisers on Twitter, explaining his decision to acquire the social media platform. “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk said on Thursday.
{{/usCountry}}Musk said there is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide society. He further added that advertising, when done right, could delight, entertain and inform people, adding, Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens brands and grows enterprises.