Throughout Twitter's rebrand into X, advertisers have started becoming more confident using the platform, CEO Linda Yaccarino recently told CNBC. To bring more advertisers back, X has added new brand safety controls to stop ads from appearing where advertisers don't want them to appear. However, amid these improvements, at least two brands have once again suspended advertising on X, CNN reported—after a Media Matters report shared screenshots of their ads appearing next to posts from a verified pro-Nazi account.
According to CNN, the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences and NCTA-The Internet and Television Association "immediately paused their ad spending on X after CNN flagged their ads on the pro-Nazi account." This account—which was verified in April and has now been suspended—"shared content celebrating Hitler and the Nazi Party," with some posts garnering "hundreds of thousands of views," CNN reported.
Before its suspension, other brands appeared in this account's feed, including The Athletic, MLB, the Atlanta Falcons, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, Amazon, and Office Depot, Media Matters reported.
On X, some accounts violating community guidelines get suspended, while others posting so-called "lawful but awful" content get marked as Not Suitable For Advertising. This pro-Nazi account should have been suspended but had not yet been caught by X. By delaying action on the account for months, every unique visit to the profile generated different ads from a variety of brands, so it's unclear just how many brands had ads placed next to the account's offensive posts.
According to X, ad impressions on this account were very low, though, registering far less than 1 percent before the account was suspended. Media Matters' report suggests that even this low amount of impressions is still too much, given that X had verified the account months ago and acknowledged that it was posting antisemitic content.
"The suspension came only after the company verified the account; allowed it to repeatedly post antisemitic content; and monetized it by placing advertisements for major brands on the account," Media Matters reported. "X's monetization of the account also happened even though the company had reportedly acknowledged that the antisemitic account engaged in 'violent speech.'”
X adds brand safety controls
Reacting to concerns over ad placements in the pro-Nazi feed, X emailed advertisers that the company is ramping up efforts to give advertisers more brand safety controls.
Recently, the company announced adjacency controls to stop ads from appearing next to posts containing certain keywords, as well as new sensitivity settings that allow brands to limit or maximize the reach of ads according to their brand's identity.
“Your ads will only air next to content that is appropriate for you,” Yaccarino said on CNBC.
With sensitivity settings, brands can mark their accounts as "conservative"—avoiding ad placements next to "targeted hate speech, explicit sexual content, gratuitous gore, excessive profanity, obscenity, spam, drugs"—or "standard"—only avoiding placements next to "targeted hate speech, explicit sexual content, gratuitous gore, excessive profanity." Soon there will be a third tier, "relaxed," where brands can "show ads alongside some sensitive content to maximize reach" but still cannot monetize targeted hate speech or explicit sexual content.
In X's email to advertisers, which was exclusively reviewed by Ars, X told advertisers that in the coming weeks, adjacency controls and sensitivity settings would also include settings to limit placements next to specific profiles.
Media Matters President Angelo Carusone told Ars that X's brand safety controls shift the burden of blocking offensive content from the platform to brands, forcing brands to detect and target content instead of X doing that work to court advertisers. Instead of tweaking advertiser controls, X should expand its trust and safety team and restore its trust and safety council, Carusone said.
Until then, Media Matters' report said that X remains a "dangerous cesspool of content, especially for advertisers," noting that "since Elon Musk took over the company," X has restored extremist accounts and "placed ads for numerous brands directly on Holocaust denial, white nationalist, and neo-Nazi accounts." Carusone said that ever since X got rid of Twitter's "containment system" for violative content, that dangerous content has spilled out and now "taints" the entire platform.
"Their abandonment of these trust and safety policies has allowed for the proliferation of this type of content and of these types of accounts," Carusone told Ars.
Carusone warned that advertisers accepting lower and lower standards for brand safety on X could encourage X to abandon all safeguards, putting the onus on advertisers to research what's toxic on the platform and protect their own brands. Media Matters plans to continue monitoring the platform, communicating any heightening concerns to advertisers.
For now, X told Ars that it's also taking steps to limit antisemitic content.
Yesterday, Yaccarino met with members of the American Jewish Committee to discuss how to improve X's "detection and contextual understanding of harmful content," X's Global Government Affairs account posted on X.
"There is no place for antisemitism on X," the @GlobalAffairs account wrote.
On X, it's possible for advertisers to target accounts, like celebrities or influencers who run accounts that they want their brand associated with. But X confirmed that none of the brands mentioned in Media Matters' report targeted the pro-Nazi account for ad placements.
NCTA spokesperson Brian Dietz told CNN that the company takes "the responsible placement of NCTA ads very seriously" and was "concerned" about the ad placement next to such "highly disturbing content."
“Brand safety will remain an utmost priority for NCTA, which means suspending advertising on Twitter/X for the foreseeable future and heavily limiting NCTA’s organic presence on the platform,” Dietz told CNN.
Some advertisers may get a chance to engage X on these issues next month. On September 20, X is holding its first Client Council meeting, where the company has promised to share an update on its efforts to strike a balance between Musk's dedication to free expression and advertisers' and users' concerns about platform safety.
