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c0lo [soylentnews.org] writes:

(maybe not actually tech news, I'll let to eds' discretion)

Elon Musk sues Unilever and Mars over X 'boycott' [bbc.com]

Elon Musk's X/Twitter is suing a group of advertisers and major companies, accusing them of unlawfully agreeing to "boycott" the site.

It has filed a claim against the food giants Unilever and Mars, private healthcare company CVS Health, and renewable energy firm Orsted - along with a trade association called the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) - in a Texas court.

X claims they have deprived it of "billions of dollars" in revenue.

Legal experts say the case is unlikely to succeed as any collusion or agreement between companies will be hard to prove.

Elon Musk can’t force advertisers to spend [ft.com]

...
          Musk’s lawsuit is based on a recent investigation of Garm led by the judiciary committee of the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives. It was filed in an obscure federal court branch in Texas known for a particular conservative judge. X’s lawyer is a well-known rightwing legal figure, not a big national law firm.

...

X’s business issues are real enough. According to the New York Times, X ad revenue in the US has collapsed to $114mn in a recent quarter. Total group global revenue for Twitter in 2021 was $5bn. The company has a $13bn debt pile where annual interest expense is well above $1bn.

...

        Advertisers decided that, since there were only a handful of dominant social networks, they needed to band together in order to enforce standards. Garm and the companies will have to show that while they perhaps co-ordinated on some matters, there was nothing binding about their alliance when it came to economic decisions. It would be decidedly odd for any company to surrender their autonomy to a trade association. Musk’s burden is higher, explaining exactly why profit-seeking companies would irrationally avoid his product.

Other links:

Al-Jazz: Musk declares ‘war’ on advertisers as X sues ad alliance, companies [aljazeera.com]

The Grauniad: Musk’s X sues Unilever, Mars and CVS over ‘massive advertiser boycott’ [theguardian.com]

_{^{Go eff yourself, was that it? [slate.com]}}

Original Submission