Elon Musk hit as firms pull Twitter ads

Elon Musk’s tenure as the owner of Twitter went from bad to worse as he decried a ‘massive drop’ in advertising sales. 

The billionaire blamed ‘activist groups pressuring advertisers’ for a fresh wave of brands deserting the platform. 

Musk, boss of electric car maker Tesla, said ‘nothing has changed’ around how Twitter moderates its content and that he did everything he could ‘to appease the activists’. 

But the platform, which he bought last month for £38billion after a legal battle, was hit by a fresh exodus of advertisers yesterday. 

Businesses fear that the microblogging site could descend into a ‘free-for-all-hellscape’ under Musk’s rule. 

But a drop in advertising income could spell trouble for the 57-year-old, as advertisers make up 90 per cent of its annual revenue. 

US food giant General Mills and the Volkswagen Group both said they were pausing advertising on the platform. Cadbury owner Mondelez and Pfizer have also pulled ads. They followed Danish brewing giant Carlsberg. 

Musk said: ‘Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.’