After Media Matters for America ran the announcement, Apple. Disney. IBM. NBCUniversal and Sony pulled their advertising from X. It is unclear if it was entirely over the Media Matters announcement or that Musk had just blessed an anti-semitic post based around a conspiracy theory.
X claims Media Matters kick-started a “blatant smear campaign” by publishing almost 20 articles against the social media platform and Musk in November. Media Matters is accused in the complaint of illegally interfering with X’s contracts with advertisers and making malicious and false statements that it’s intentionally placing ads near antisemitic posts.
“This is a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X’s critics into silence,” Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said in a statement. “Media Matters stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court.”
But it has not been all bad for Musk. Numerous right-wing media companies and influencers have pledged support for Elon Musk, promising to advertise on X to compensate for the revenue lost from fleeing businesses.
Seth Dillon, CEO of conservative satire website Babylon Bee, announced that his company would be spending $250,000 to advertise on X to support "free speech." Babylon Bee was suspended on Twitter in the good old days and was one of the reasons Musk said he was interested in buying the social notworking outfit.
YouTuber Tim Pool pledged to spend the same amount on X ads "over the next few months."
Political commentator Benny Johnson, for example, pledged $50,000 in ad spending. Other right-wing creators like The Quartering, Donut Operator, Gavin McInnes, and Elijah Schaffer promised smaller amounts ranging from $2,500 to $40,000.
Andrew Tate took time out of his Romanian rape and sex trafficking case to Musk $1 million per month without even running ads.
"I will advertise X on X, I will literally promote your own platform on this platform," wrote Tate. "1,000,000 USD a month. You dont need other advertisers. Let me know where to pay @elonmusk."
It's unlikely that Tate has the dosh to donate $12 million per year to X. When Tate was arrested earlier this year, Romanian authorities unveiled he had roughly more than $10 million in assets. This means that Tate is pledging more than he even has to Musk, which would wipe out Tate's fortune in less than 12 months.
Even including Tate’s rather unlikely offer, it does not seem that any right-wing pundits will come up with enough dosh to replace the fleeing big corporates. Apple alone reportedly spends more than $100 million per year on X ads.