Audi and General Mills latest to pause Twitter advertising after Musk purchase

Tesla billionaire has promised advertisers site will not become ‘free-for-all hells cape’

Audi and General Mills have become the latest companies to pause advertising on Twitter in the wake of Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover.

Advertisers are waiting to see how strong the platform’s content moderation will remain as the Tesla billionaire has vowed not to let it become a “free-for-all hellscape.”

Minnesota-based General Mills produces products such as Cheerios and Annie’s macaroni and cheese, and their position was confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday.

“As always, we will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend,” spokesperson Kelsey Roemhildt told AP.

Audi spokesperson Whaewon Choi-Wiles said the German automaker, which is owned by Volkswagen, is pausing ads and “will continue to evaluate the situation.”

Following Mr Musk’s takeover of Twitter, some users have posted racial slurs and wild conspiracy theories to see how tightly enforced Twitter’s policies would be under new ownership.

The NAACP says it has told Mr Musk of its concerns about “the dangerous, life-threatening hate and conspiracies that have proliferated on Twitter” since he has owned it.

Mr Musk is reportedly considering firing half of Twitter’s 7,5000 staff, which critics say will make content moderation even more difficult.

General Motors, last week announced that it has also paused advertising on Twitter as it tries to “understand the direction of the platform.”

Earlier this week IPG Mediabrands told its clients that they should stop advertising on Twitter until more is known about brand safety pin the site.

Twitter reportedly makes 90 per cent of its revenue from advertisers, and Mr Musk is trying to introduce an $8 per month charge for blue tick verification.

Google, Amazon and Meta account for about 75 per cent of all digital ads, while Twitter will account for just 0.9 per cent of worldwide digital ad spending in 2022, according to AP.

The Associated Press contributed to this story