Elon's Current War

Luring Advertisers With the Carrot and the Stick

“I prefer peace, but if they want war, they will get it.” - Elon Musk, 6.3.23

This is what I imagine is currently happening behind the scenes at Twitter.

Twitter is being held hostage by an organized group of advertisers threatening to pull their ad spending, which will bleed the company dry.

We know this because yesterday on a space with RFK Jr., Elon said as much. Organizations feel pressure from advertisers to “toe the line. “They are trying to drive Twitter bankrupt,” he said in response to RFK Jr.’s anecdote about being blocked from appearing on Fox News by his friend Roger Ailes.

RFK Jr. said that Ailes admitted to him that if a Fox journalist had him on as a guest, said journalist would be instantly fired by Rupert Murdoch. Why? Because Big Pharma composes the vast, overwhelming majority of ad spending on the network. “If there are 22 ads on a nightly show,” explained RFK Jr., "17-18 of those ads will be for big pharmaceuticals.” And …