Elon Musk's X sues Lego, Nestlé, and other brands over ad boycott

Elon Musk's X expanded an existing lawsuit on Saturday to include numerous major brands, alleging more corporations illegally boycotting the social media platform in 2022 following Musk's acquisition.

The lawsuit, filed last year in a federal court in Texas, first targeted the boycott organizer, the World Federation of Advertisers, and firms such as CVS and the video-streaming site Twitch.

Musk's lawyers submitted an amended case early Saturday, adding numerous more defendants, including Lego, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate-Palmolive, Pinterest, and Shell International.

The complaint claims that the World Federation of Advertisers feared that X, then known as Twitter, would deviate from its brand safety strategy, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). As a result, the lawsuit claimed that the group planned a large-scale advertising stop.

According to the lawsuit, at least 18 GARM advertisers stopped buying advertising on Twitter in the United States or worldwide following Musk's purchase of the platform in November 2022, while other GARM members "substantially reduced" their ad expenditure.

According to the lawsuit, X alleges it lost billions of dollars in advertising income, and the boycott's effects can still be felt years later.

Lawyers representing X argued that, in a competitive market, social media companies should be able to establish their brand safety guidelines that are "optimal for that platform."

"But collective action among competing advertisers to dictate brand safety standards to be applied by social media platforms shortcuts the competitive process and allows the collective views of a group of advertisers with market power to override the interests of the consumer," according to the lawsuit.

The corporations that joined the lawsuit on Saturday did not immediately reply to NPR's requests for comment.

Musk has altered Twitter's policies around what is and is not permitted on social media. He reinstated accounts that had been suspended for breaking the platform's policies. He also fired contract content moderators, the company's human rights team, and detectives tasked with combating political manipulation and child sexual abuse material, as NPR has reported.

Following the suit, the World Federation of Advertisers ceased GARM operations last year, citing "recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances."