• Volkswagen is the latest brand to stop advertising on Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover of the company.
• Food manufacturer General Mills, which owns brands like Cheerios and Lucky Charms, did the same yesterday.
• Other brands, such as the American automaker General Motors, have also halted their paid activities on the platform.

Since Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media firm, Volkswagen has become the latest brand to halt advertising on the platform.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and will decide about next steps depending on its evolvement,” Europe’s top carmaker says in a statement.

Yesterday, food manufacturer General Mills, which owns brands like Cheerios and Lucky Charms, did the same – saying it was continuing to monitor the social media company’s “new direction” and wanted to “evaluate [its] marketing spend”.

Other brands, such as the American automaker General Motors, the automobile brand Audi, and the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, have also halted their paid activities on the platform so far.

Musk, who describes himself as a “absolutist for free expression,” has in the past voiced his disagreement with the moderation rules of Twitter. The widespread belief is that he will reverse rulings such as the one to prevent former US President Donald Trump from using Twitter for propagating false information.

As a result, companies now face the challenge of determining whether or not they are willing to take the risk of having their advertisements appear next to content that might be considered dangerous.

Why might this be a problem for Musk in the future? Because, as we discussed before, the vast majority of Twitter’s revenue comes from its advertising partners.

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