Elon Musk Says Apple Is Twitter's Biggest AdvertiserAfter a series of brands stopped advertising on the platform post-Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, some of its biggest customers, like Amazon and Apple, are reportedly back to ads — or never left.
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Elon Musk's Apple fight appears to be over — and after a vocal exodus from advertisers on the platform, major clients are reportedly already back.
The eccentric billionaire and multi-CEOclaimedSaturday that Apple had "fully resumed" advertising on Twitter, and there were reports over the weekend that, while Amazon had not completely paused ads, itplannedto move forward with a purchase of a large tranche of Twitter ads.
Advertisers and brands, including Chipotle and United,saidthey were going to stop advertising Twitter after Elon Musk's purchase of the platform wasfinalizedin late October.
Upon his purchase, researchers found aspike in hate speech— one that has beenreported again, a little over a month after he bought the platform. Musk also laid off half of Twitter's staff,including content moderators, leading some to worry the platform would become a poor place for brand image.
Musk, who has madedark commentsabout Twitter's financials, also promised brands the platform would not become a "free-for-all hellscape."
Per Twitter's financial disclosures while it was still a public company, about 90% of its revenue comes from advertising.
Leading up to buying Twitter, Musk mused about various alternative revenue models, frommonetizingTweets tocharginggovernments or companies to Tweet. Almost immediately after becoming the new CEO and new owner, Musk unleashed a confusing rollout of a pay-for-verification scheme that caused widespread chaos on the platform.
One person created a verified Pepsi account andTweeted"coke is better." Another person made and obtained a verification check mark for an account supposedly from drug manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company.
"We are excited to announce insulin is free now," the account Tweeted. The company's stock thendropped 4% in a 24-hour time frame. (Sean Morrow, who is a writer at labor outlet More Perfect Union claimedresponsibilityfor the incident.)
Eli Lilly's actual account wasforcedto disavow and apologize for the Tweet, whichreportedlysparked panic at the company. It also drove a fresh round ofcriticismover the price of insulin, whichresearch has showncosts anywhere from five to ten times more in the U.S. than in other countries.
Related:Eli Lilly Stock Plummets After Parody Twitter Account Says Insulin is Now Free
The chaos eventually led to Muskputting the program on hold.
According to theWall Street Journal, Musk and the company have been making overtures to advertisers with an offer of a spending match — "$500,000 in incremental spending" with a cap of $1 million.
Musk had previouslyclaimed苹果曾扬言要pull Twitter off the App Store and then laterfollowedup, saying he had spoken with Apple CEO Tim Cook and that the issue had been a "misunderstanding."
Good conversation. Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store. Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)November 30, 2022
On Saturday, in a Twitter Spaces, which is Twitter's Clubhouse-like audio platform, Musk said in a two-hour-plus event that Apple, had begun advertising on Twitter again, further reducing public tension between the two companies, Bloombergreported.
He also said Apple was the platform's most significant advertiser.
Reporter Zoë Schiffer of Platformer, who has been covering Twitter closely, Tweeted Saturday that Amazon planned to purchase a $100 million package for advertising on Twitter "pending some security tweaks to the company's ads platform."
She followed up, saying that thecompany"continued advertising on Twitter throughout the recent turmoil, although some campaigns were paused."
Reuters alsoreportedSaturday, citing "a source familiar with the matter," Amazon never quite stopped advertising on Twitter.
狗万官方noticed an ad from Apple on the platform on Sunday, but it's unclear when it was purchased or deployed. Neither company responded to a request for comment.
A Apple ad on Twitter with a timestamp of Sunday afternoon.
