Advertising and marketing group Omnicom is telling its customers to temporarily stop spending on Twitter ads in the short term.
According to an internal memo seen by Reuters, Omnicom serves more than 5,000 customers in 70 countries, including McDonald’s, Apple and Johnson & Johnson. The memo did not name customers, and it is not clear if any of them have paused spending on Twitter ads, reports a local Arabic daily.
The move underscores growing skepticism among agencies and brands about Twitter’s future since Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of it.
The Tesla CEO blames civil rights groups after revenue fell dramatically as they pressured Twitter advertisers to boycott the service until Musk showed how he would control misinformation and hate speech on Twitter.
According to the memo, “Twitter’s ability to maintain its prior level of brand integrity and effectiveness appears to be hampered in the near term, and while Omnicom believes that this is unlikely to significantly increase the risk environment for advertisers, the risk of association with unsafe content could It is rising and such consideration should be given when making a decision regarding the use of the platform.”
The move comes in the wake of an increase in fake accounts on Twitter, after Musk allowed users to pay eight dollars for the flocked blue tick that was previously only granted to verified accounts of politicians, actors and other prominent personalities.
On Friday, Twitter announced that it had restored the “official” mark given to some accounts days after they were removed, while a number of users reported that the new option to sign up for eight dollars to get the blue verification badge had disappeared from the site. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment, according to Reuters.
“After checking the Twitter API, the option to purchase the Twitter blue verification tag is no longer available within the app,” app researcher Jane Manchun Wong said in a tweet.
On Sunday, Musk said that Twitter users who impersonate others without making it clear that this is just a “parody” will have their accounts permanently suspended without warning.
Musk said earlier that his companies will be in a good position in 2023 despite the potential economic difficulties, according to Reuters reported.
Musk’s tweet came a day after he raised the possibility of Twitter going bankrupt.
Three people who saw Musk’s first email to all company employees told Reuters that Musk warned in his letter that Twitter would not “survive the next economic slowdown” if it failed to boost subscription revenue to offset lower advertising income.
AFP reported that since Musk completed the purchase of Twitter, some users of the platform who reject the idea of acquiring it by the billionaire or who are concerned about the measures announced by the new owner, decided to switch to other platforms.
Read Today's News TODAY... on our Telegram Channel click here to join and receive all the latest updates t.me/thetimeskuwait
