Elon Musk's X now at peace with Unilever after 'declaring war' over ad boycott

X accuses advertisers of contravening the US antitrust laws by moving their advertising business to other platforms

Tech Desk - Oct 13, 2024

Following a brief of disturbed momentum prompted Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) to declare "war" on advertisers who boycotted X for endorsing inappropriate material on the platform, the microblogging platform mended ties with the consumer goods giant Unilever.

"X is pleased to have reached an agreement with Unilever and to continue our partnership with them on the platform. Today’s news is the first part of the ecosystem-wide solution and we look forward to more resolution across the industry," X tweeted.

Unilever ads continued on X

With the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) juggernaut set to reembark on its advertising journey, it was sued by X in August alongside the World Federation of Advertisers and four of its members including the candy conglomerate Mars, CVS Health, and the wind-energy firm Ørsted.

X accused the aforementioned giants of contravening the US antitrust laws by moving to opt for other platforms for their advertising business. “We tried being nice for 2 years and got nothing but empty words. Now, it is war,” Musk had tweeted at the time.

As reported by PCMag, the lawsuit found Unilever and others to be scheming with other corporate advertisers when they boycotted X for supposedly failing to come on par with the brand safety standards.

The petition stated that the advertisers downplayed the offer to return to the platform despite extending "brand safety" options letting them decide where they would place their ads.

While the terms and conditions of the agreement have not been disclosed, Reuters that X continued to retain its “antitrust claims against the other defendants."