United States of America. Musk threatens dissident Twitter advertisers.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has threatened public criticism of advertisers who stop showing ads on Twitter.

With his tweet Saturday evening, the new Twitter owner responded to a right-wing lobbyist’s suggestion that advertisers should be named in order to subject them to a counter-boycott. “Thank you,” Musk wrote in his response. “Thermonuclear label and defamation is exactly what will happen if this doesn’t stop.”

In the past few days, Volkswagen Group, pharmaceutical company Pfizer and food giant Mondelez, among others, have announced their desire to suspend ads on Twitter. Companies’ concern about their ads appearing alongside negative content is not a new phenomenon. Google Video’s YouTube has also struggled with this.

Musk has raised these concerns himself with frequent criticism that Twitter has restricted freedom of expression too much. Last week he then tried to reassure advertisers with an open letter: Twitter will not be a place where you can do anything without consequences. So far he confirms that nothing has changed in the rules of the content of the platform. However, some advertisers are holding back.

Musk on Friday complained of a massive drop in sales, blaming activist groups for putting pressure on companies. These unidentified activists sought to destroy freedom of expression in America.

Then, on Twitter, right-wing lobbyist Mike Davis suggested a counter-boycott of advertisers who succumbed to such pressure. Davis has criticized the “cancellation culture” in many organizations and wants to hold Internet companies responsible for the alleged suppression of conservative views.

Musk completed the purchase of Twitter for about $44 billion last week, and among other things, he took on debts that must be serviced. Ad revenue accounts for nearly all of Twitter’s revenue, which makes its decline especially painful.

SDA