Civil-Society Groups Call on Twitter’s Top-20 Advertisers to Demand that Elon Musk Fulfill His Promise to Safeguard Their Brands and Protect Users

More than 40 civil-society groups called on Twitter’s top-20 advertisers to inform Elon Musk that they will suspend all advertising on the platform if he follows through on plans to undermine the social network’s community standards and content moderation. The move follows breaking news that Musk has already frozen many employees’ ability to access content-moderation and standards-enforcement tools that they previously used to protect users from the spread of election disinformation and other toxic content. The letter documents the many changes Musk has already made to the company, including firing Twitter's top executive in charge of legal policy, trust, and safety. The letter highlights Musk’s threat to drastically reduce employee headcount, including those responsible for maintaining community standards and protecting user safety. It also cites the sharp increase in hateful posts and misinformation on Twitter since Musk took over — including a homophobic tweet shared (and then deleted) by Musk.