Stellantis Pauses Paid Advertisements on Twitter After Elon Musk Takeover

Stellantis said on Monday it is pausing all paid advertising posts on Twitter as it waits to see what the platform will look like under the leadership of its new owner Elon Musk. “We're pausing paid advertising posts until we have a clearer understanding of the future of the platform under its new leadership," the automaker said of Twitter in a statement to Reuters. Stellantis was created from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA.

Musk has said Twitter has suffered a "massive" revenue drop since he took over 10 days ago.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stellantis joins a number of major companies that have halted advertising on Twitter, including United Airlines, General Mills, luxury automaker Audi of America, and General Motors.

Gilead Sciences Inc said earlier on Monday the company and its unit Kite were in the "process of pausing advertising" on Twitter.

Last week, Volkswagen said it had asked its brands to pause paid advertising on Twitter until further notice in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover of the social media platform. "We are closely monitoring the situation and will decide about next steps depending on its evolvement," Europe's top carmaker had announced in a statement.

The comments by Volkswagen group, which covers the VW, Seat, Cupra, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Ducati and Porsche brands, echoes similar remarks from other firms, including GM and General Mills.

Earlier this month, Musk tweeted that the company will form a content moderation council "with widely diverse viewpoints." Musk said no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before the council convenes.

The self-described "free speech absolutist" said in May he would reverse Twitter's ban on former US President Donald Trump, who was removed from the microblogging site in January last year over the risk of further incitement of violence after the storming of the US Capitol.

© Thomson Reuters 2022