Brands are still risk-averse

Kara Swisher, journalist and co-host of the podcast Pivot, said during a live podcast recording at ADWEEK House on Tuesday that X’s proposition is a “difficult sell” for Yaccarino.  

“Elon Musk no longer wants advertisers to go fuck themselves,” she observed. “How do you manage the owner and his antics? [Yaccarino] doesn’t seem to think there’s a connection … [but] everyone I talk to is worried about being called out by this guy.” 

Pivot co-host Scott Galloway added that X hosts “a lot of incredibly toxic content,” pointing to a 2020 survey from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) that found 49% of all child exploitation content found online in the last three years originated on Twitter. 

“Brands don’t want to be in the business of ever taking that risk,” Galloway said.