Toxic Twitter: How Twitter Generates Millions in Ad Revenue by Brining Back Banned Accounts

Since announcing his policy of a “general amnesty” for banned Twitter users in November 2022, Elon Musk has reinstated tens of thousands of accounts, including neo-Nazis, white supremacists, misogynists, and spreaders of dangerous conspiracy theories. Now new research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate estimates the value of these reinstatements to Twitter, providing further evidence that Musk’s decision to welcome them back is driven by a desperate drive for revenues. By analyzing new publicly available figures on tweet impressions, the Center estimates that just ten reinstated accounts renowned for publishing hateful content and dangerous conspiracies will generate up to $19 million a year in advertising revenue for Twitter. The analysis shows that the ten accounts have already amassed 2.5 billion tweet impressions since Twitter rolled out publicly visible impression counts on 15th December 2022, putting them on track to reach 20 billion impressions over the course of a year. The Center has also found ads appearing next to toxic content from each of these reinstated accounts, showing how companies are putting their brand safety and consumer trust at risk by continuing to advertise on Twitter. Finally, industry information from the social media analytics firm Brandwatch shows that Twitter ads cost an average of $6.46 per 1,000 impressions. Pulling these elements together results in a total figure of up to $19 million in estimated annual ad revenues across the accounts.