Top Twitter advertisers cut ad spends by 42 percent after Musk takeover: study 

Ad spending from the top 30 advertisers on Twitter fell by an estimated 42 percent after Tesla CEO Elon Musk took over the company, according to a new report from Reuters based on research from the firm Pathmatics.  

Four companies in the top 30 spenders “significantly” reduced their ad buys in the wake of Musk’s takeover, decreasing spending by more than 90 percent by the end of the year, per the report.

Another 14 companies halted all advertising on the platform, according to the research, among which were Coca-Cola Co., Kraft Heinz and Nestle SA.

Apple Inc. and PepsiCo Inc., though, both increased spending, the research found.

A watchdog report last year found that 50 of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers had stopped their activity on or fully cut ties with the platform less than a month after Musk acquired the company.  

Musk’s controversial takeover as Twitter’s CEO prompted concerns from advertisers and users alike as he slashed staff in mass layoffs, revamped key features of the social media app and rolled back content moderation despite worries about hate speech and misinformation on the site.  

Advocacy groups also pushed advertisers to turn away from Twitter due to content moderation concerns, but Musk attempted to assure advertisers that the platform would stay afloat and stable even awash in the new and controversial changes.  

Twitter earlier this month announced it would scale back its 2019 ban on political ads and allow more “cause-based” advertising.  

The Reuters-Pathmatics estimates were based on ad tracker technologies.