Twitter’s brand value is at risk of being further eroded by the recent antics of its owner, Elon Musk. Musk’s behavior has escalated over the past month and included labeling several major news organizations as state-funded media, making crude jokes on Twitter, and easing restrictions on Russian government accounts. These moves may further complicate Twitter’s efforts to revive its declining ad business and supplement it with Twitter Blue subscriptions.
Twitter has been struggling to retain advertisers for months, with the declining ad business accounting for 90% of its annual revenue. Musk, who bought the company for $44 billion, is on the hook for large payments to lenders and must coax advertisers back to the platform or boost its subscription business or both. However, his recent erratic moves may only complicate those turnaround efforts.
Twitter received backlash for labeling NPR as a “state-affiliated media” organization akin to foreign propaganda outlets like Russia’s RT and Sputnik. NPR CEO John Lansing called Twitter’s move “unacceptable,” and said the organization is “supported by millions of listeners.” Following the pushback, Twitter changed NPR’s label to “government-funded media” and applied the same designation to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) over the weekend. The moves risk alienating some of the world’s best-known media organizations and undermining the platform’s role as a central hub for news.
While Twitter labeled some news accounts as state-funded, it also appears to have removed some restrictions on Russian government accounts that had been put in place following the outset of Russia’s war in Ukraine, again prompting outrage among some users. Musk commented on the decision, saying, “I’m told Putin called me a war criminal for helping Ukraine, so he’s not exactly my best friend. All news is to some degree propaganda. Let people decide for themselves.”
The controversial moves come as Twitter continues to face significant business challenges. Analysis firm Similarweb reported that traffic to Twitter’s ad portal was down nearly 19% year-over-year in March. Many major advertisers have halted spending on Twitter since Musk’s takeover over concerns about increased hate speech on the platform and massive cuts to the company’s workforce.
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Musk has said Twitter is working to improve the platform’s ad targeting to increase value for advertisers. “But all the while there have been distractions,” said Scott Kessler, technology sector lead at research firm Third Bridge, adding that there are “significant questions about the direction that the company is going.” At the same time, online ad spending broadly has contracted over concerns about the economy.
Against that backdrop, Musk’s Twitter has made several head-scratching announcements this month, some of which might only add to its challenges. Musk previously frustrated some of Twitter’s celebrity users, who have long been a key selling point for the platform, with a promise to remove blue checkmarks from accounts that had been verified under Twitter’s previous system. But it didn’t exactly go to plan—instead of removing checks from all previously verified users, Twitter appeared to target a single account belonging to The New York Times.
Days later, Twitter’s home button was temporarily replaced with doge, the meme representing the cryptocurrency dogecoin, which Musk has promoted. The company also briefly restricted Twitter users from sharing links to a rival platform, upsetting users, including one who had previously reported the so-called Twitter files using documents provided by Musk.
As if to underscore his unique and questionable impact on the brand, the “Chief Twit” has also apparently been keeping busy with changes to Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters. Last week, photos began spreading of a piece of plastic covering the “w” in the sign on the front of the company’s office.
At nearly midnight on Sunday, Musk tweeted that the company’s landlord “says we’re legally required to keep sign as Twitter & cannot remove the W”, so he painted the W to match the background color. Titter, twitter, call it whatever, it’s still in the sh*tter…..
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