Musk reached a settlement in the advertiser boycott lawsuit against X

X (formerly Twitter), owned by Elon Musk, has reached a settlement in a lawsuit it filed against brands that chose not to advertise on the platform following Musk's statements and the rise of hate speech and incitement content on X. The details of the settlement were not published, and it remains unclear whether the brands will return to advertising on X.

In August 2024, Musk sued a series of companies, including Unilever, Mars, and CVS, as well as the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), an international association representing 150 of the world's largest brands, claiming they violated antitrust laws by acting in concert to avoid advertising on X.

"The defendants acted in collusion, together with dozens of co-conspirators not named in the lawsuit, to deprive Twitter of advertising revenues totaling billions of dollars," the lawsuit stated.

Later, Musk expanded the lawsuit and added Amazon's Twitch, Nestle, Lego, Colgate, Shell, and others. Along the way, Musk recorded several point successes. The WFA's GRAMM initiative, which according to the lawsuit was used to organize the boycott of X, was shut down two days after the filing. At the end of 2024, Unilever was removed from the lawsuit after it returned to advertising on the platform, against the backdrop of warm relations between Musk and US President Donald Trump.

However, last March, a federal court in Texas dismissed the lawsuit. A few days later, X appealed the decision. Now, the proceeding is coming to an end with the signing of a settlement agreement.

"We are putting the legal action behind us. This resets the relationship between the two organizations. The WFA emphasizes its commitment to freedom of speech, a principle it shares with X. The WFA and X fully agree that brands, platforms, and consumers will benefit from innovation in brand safety," X and the WFA said in a joint statement.