After Tesla CEO Elon Musk successfully finalized his $44 billion acquisition of the social network on Friday, General Motors has temporarily stopped running advertisements on Twitter (via CNBC). While it will still use the social media site to engage with customers, the manufacturer says it is pausing paid advertising on Twitter to assess “the trajectory of the platform” under Musk’s leadership.
In an email to The Verge, GM spokesman Dan Flores said, “We are working with Twitter to determine the direction of the platform under their new ownership.” “We have temporarily halted our sponsored advertising, as is customary when a big change in a media platform occurs. We’ll keep interacting with our customers on Twitter.
It’s unclear whether GM’s decision to momentarily stop running ads on Twitter is a result of the company’s competition with Tesla, Elon Musk’s goal of turning Twitter into a “free speech” platform, or a combination of the two. As Musk has previously hinted at undoing former President Donald Trump’s prohibition, a Wall Street Journal piece on Thursday underlined advertisers’ concerns about the future of content filtering on the Musk-owned version of Twitter. Musk tweeted that he would prevent Twitter from turning into a “free-for-all hellscape,” but he also reaffirmed his desire to build “a digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs may be argued in a healthy manner.” Musk was trying to reassure advertisers.
Additionally, the new owner of Twitter has stated that he will create a “content moderation committee” with individuals who have “widely
