X Platform Suspends Pro-Nazi Account After Major Brands Threaten To Leave Just A Week After CEO Yaccarino Touted Brand Safety
The X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, has suspended a pro-Nazi account after major brands threatened to pull their ads for being featured next to the fascist tweets, according to media watchdog group Media Matters. The controversy came just one week after X CEO Linda Yaccarino discussed the platform’s commitment to brand safety.
“Since acquisitions, we have built brand safety and content moderation tools that have never existed before at this company,” Yaccarino said during an August 10 sit-down interview with Squawk on the Street’s Sara Eisen. Yaccarino said that brands are now “protected from the risk of being next to” hate speech content.
However, a Media Matters report published Wednesday found:
Under the leadership of CEO Linda Yaccarino, X (formerly known as Twitter) has been placing ads for brands like The New York Times Co.’s The Athletic, MLB, the Atlanta Falcons, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, Amazon, and Office Depot on a verified pro-Adolf Hitler account that encourages antisemitic harassment. The company continues to monetize the openly antisemitic account despite reportedly acknowledging it had violated the platform’s “rules against violent speech.
Yaccarino tweeted on the same day the Media Matters story broke:
“Sensitivity Settings is live globally in the X Ads Manager — making it even simpler for all advertisers to find the right balance between reach and suitability”
Media Matters updated its report Friday to reflect that X had suspended the offensive account.
Following the publication of this article, X suspended the openly pro-Hitler account. The suspension came only after the company verified the account; allowed it to repeatedly post antisemitic content; and monetized it by placing advertisements for major brands on the account. X’s monetization of the account also happened even though the company had reportedly acknowledged that the antisemitic account engaged in “violent speech.”
Brands featured alongside the fascist account’s tweets included Adobe, Gilead Sciences, the University of Maryland’s football team, New York University Langone Hospital, and NCTA-The Internet and Television Association.
CNN picked up the story, reporting, “Spokespeople for NCTA and pharmaceutical company Gilead said that they immediately paused their ad spending on X after CNN flagged their ads on the pro-Nazi account.”
Neither X nor Yaccarino have yet commented on the report.
Read the Media Matters article here.
