- Elon Musk’s X – the thing we used to call Twitter – lost a lot of advertisers after he bought it.
- Now he is trying to restore them and, reported, using the implicit threat of government intervention to do so.
- This seems like an opportunity for people worried about government involvement in social media to set up. When will this happen?
Here is a 100%hypothetical scenario: Say a general director of the big technique requires a large advertising agency and tells them that it would be a good idea to spend more money with his company. Because if they don’t do it, he knows people in the American government …
I know, I know. That would never happen.
Except that maybe she THERE happened. And the person who is suspected of sending that message is Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X.
Who is, of course, owned by Elon Musk, who works for Donald Trump, donated more than $ 250 million to Trump’s presidential campaign, and also conducts joint interviews with him.
Wall Street Journal reports that Yaccarino and its lieutenants have printed the Interpublic group, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, to force its customers to spend more money on X. Hanging on IPG’s head: A proposed agreement to sell yourself to Rival Omnicom, which may need regulatory approval at the US
IPG executors interpreted X messages as a reminder that the Trump administration could slow that agreement, according to the magazine veteran reporter, Suzanne Vranica, citing some nameless people close to the matter.
We’re just a month in Trump 2.0, and things are happening very quickly, so it’s easy to lose things. But I want to underline what can happen here – because it’s extraordinary. Even from the extraordinary standards we have seen in the past weeks: a large media platform whose owner is deeply drawn to the Trump administration is – reported – telling companies to give business, or risk reprisory of the government.
If this is true, it goes beyond kissing the interpretive ring we have seen from Big Tech and other business executives in recent months. And beyond the settlements Trump has derived from Disney, Meta and X itself.
Those payments stemmed from disputes between private companies and a private citizen who has since become president of the United States. Now we are seeing a world where the president’s allies could receive special treatment. And people or companies that do not bow to those allies can face punishment for government decisions that must be taken in their legal merits.
Here’s what Interpublic told me when I asked him if the diary story was correct, this is what he said to the magazine. I am publishing the answer completely:
Our role is to recommend the most strategic media investments for our clients. These objective recommendations maximize business results for brands and audiences. We constantly work with a cross section of media partners and believe that a wide range of options gives the greatest value and efficiency for traders. We do not make expense commitments on behalf of clients for any partner or platform, and the decision -making authority always lies with the client.
You may notice that there is nothing there by arguing that the reporting of the diary – that inter -public leaders believe that Yaccarino and Co. They were telling them to spend more about keeping trouble – it’s not true.
I assume the formulation is very accurate and specific. But just to make sure, I followed to ask if IPG wanted to offer any additional comments. I haven’t heard again. I also haven’t heard again from the press office X.
And just to overcome this on the ground: I have also not seen any public concerns from Trump’s allies who complain regularly that the media and technology platforms are biased against the conservatives, or that they have been very comfortable with Democratic lawmakers. You would think they would be very upset about the suggestions that a large platform used its links with the President of the United States to force advertisers.
But there is nothing from Jim Jordan, the Republican Congressman who has spent years trying to root the supposed prejudices in the Big Tech, and who now says he is trying to root the alleged clash among the big advertising to keep the advertising dollars away X. (X is also making the same claims in the lawsuit he is filing against some potential advertisers.) Nothing from Brendan Carr, the choice of Trump To run the Federal Communications Commission, which has said he wants to seal prejudice in large media companies and large technology companies. Nothing from Vice President JD Vance, who just taught European leaders on how they regulate social media as they complain that Joe Biden’s administration “threatened and harassed social media companies”.
But look. As I said: This is extraordinary items – things we would have a difficult time imagining just a few weeks ago. So maybe I’m wrong, and people in Trumpworld are just learning about these claims and will complain aloud for them every minute now.
Tell me when you hear something.