Fact Checked by 
The relationship between businessman Elon Musk and president-elect Donald Trump could be enticing advertisers back to the social media app X, reports claim.
Musk took over the platform, previously known as Twitter, in October 2022. Since then there has been no shortage of controversy. Many advertisers, including big players like Apple and Disney, began pulling spending from the site late last year over antisemitism claims.
Analysis from marketing researchers WARC claims that $5.9 billion has been lost in ad revenue since the Musk takeover. $4.5 billion was generated in 2022 and then dropped to $2.2 billion last year. This year the estimated figure is just £2 billion.
Could Trump turn it around for X’s falling figures?
That could be all set to change, however. Musk and Trump’s relationship is well-documented – the Tesla CEO has spent millions on political donations. He was even pictured with the Trump family after the election win last week. On Tuesday Musk appointed the 53-year-old billionaire to lead his new Department Of Government Efficiency alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.
The whole squad pic.twitter.com/5yQVkFiney
— Kai Trump (@KaiTrump) November 6, 2024
“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people,” Musk said in a press release revealing his new position.
Now advertisers are keen to get into the new government’s favor by supporting one of Trump’s biggest allies, according to the Financial Times.
One marketing consultancy CEO Lou Paskalis said returning to advertising on X could be used as “political leverage” for companies. But some in the industry are still skeptical, with one source telling the FT “Which brand will take the risk?”
The election results prompted many X users to delete their accounts. Analytics site Similarweb claims that 115,000 users in the US left the platform last Wednesday alone. Rival app Bluesky saw 700,000 new users in the week after the election.
Feature image credit: Ideogram
