Elon Musk's social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), has launched a lawsuit against several major companies and a trade association, alleging they unlawfully engaged in a "boycott" of the site.
As per BBC, the lawsuit, filed in a Texas court, targets food giants Unilever and Mars, private healthcare company CVS Health, renewable energy firm Orsted, and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).
X claims the boycott deprived it of "billions of dollars" in revenue, particularly during a period of steep decline in advertising income following Musk's acquisition of the platform in 2022.
The lawsuit argues that these companies were concerned about X’s commitment to content moderation under its new ownership, leading to a significant drop in ad revenue.
X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, stated, "People are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is constricted. No small group of people should monopolize what gets monetized."
Meanwhile, Musk echoed this sentiment, stating, "We tried being nice for 2 years and got nothing but empty words. Now, it is war."
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of conspiring to withhold advertising funds in line with the safety standards of a WFA initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (Garm).
X alleges that this initiative's standards, intended to address harmful content on digital platforms, were used unfairly against it.
