Elon Musk’s X sues several companies for advertising ‘Boycott’

On February 3, 2025By Littum

Elon Musk’s X is suing several companies and claiming they joined a group of advertisers who illegally conspire to boycott the social media platform.

On Saturday, Musk’s lawyers filed a changed complaint that expanded his trial from 2024, accusing the Global Alliance of Responsible Media (GARM), an advertising industry and membership companies for violation of antitrustlove after buying the platform previously known as Twitter in 2022. The original original trial claimed that they “conspired” to “collectively withhold billions in advertising revenue” and specifically named several companies including CVS, Mars, Ørsted and RUN.

The new complaint Adds Nestlé, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate-Palmolive, Lego, Pinterest, Tyson Foods and Shell International to the list.

The lawsuit claims that Garm Membership companies acted to enforce the social media platform’s compliance with certain fire safety standards that the group favored when they collectively stopped buying ads on X.

The complaint also claims that the member companies celebrated when X did not meet its expected revenue goals and that the boycott continues to affect the company today, despite the fact that X uses standards “that meet or exceed those specified by Garm.”

Nestlé, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate-Palmolive, Lego, Pinterest, Tyson Foods and Shell International did not immediately respond to USA Today’s comment requests.

Musk’s lawyers claimed that social media companies should be able to set their own fire safety standards that are “optimal” for their platform and users in a competitive market, which in turn would inform advertisers’ individual decisions on where to advertise.

“But collective actions among competing advertisers to dictate fire safety standards to be used by social media platforms, shortcut the competitive process and allow the collective views of a group of afadvertisers with market force to override consumers’ interests,” the complaint continued.

Since Musk’s acquisition and rebrand of Twitter to X, the platform and its algorithm have changed drastically. He fired Twitter staff, cut content moderation and reintroduced some previously banned accounts, including President Donald Trumps. All the time, X has had a contentious relationship with advertisers. Last year, X CEO Linda Yaccarino published an open letter to advertisers arguing that the relationship has damaged the platform.

Well Rachel Barber [email protected] and follow her on x @rachelbarber_