Chaos has ensued since Elon Musk’s multi-billion-dollar ($44 billion to be exact) takeover of Twitter, with a number of high profile unfollows coming in the days that followed the protracted takeover.
Fresh from cutting ties with Ye, French Couture house Balenciaga is the first luxury brand to quit the app since Musk’s takeover.
As the social media giant seemingly enters a turbulent period of decline, many brands have gone as far as to suspend their ad spend on the site. Never one to do things by halves, Balenciaga has gone one step further, by deleting an account that boasted 11 million followers.
Since taking over, Musk has laid off numerous staff members – including those who controlled and moderated the content. The bulk of the executive team followed soon afterwards and Twitter has been raging ever since. There has also been a mass exodus of celebrities from the app, including Gigi Hadid who called the app a “cesspool of hate”.
Musk also moved to put the blue verification tick on Twitter up for sale – anyone who is willing to part with $8 a month can have their account verified – which opened the floodgates for fake accounts. It didn’t take long before a Musk-era verified account impersonated pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, announcing it would provide free insulin. Such was the turmoil that the company’s stocks dropped by more than 4 per cent, essentially, wiping out billions of dollars in market cap. Eli Lilly responded by cutting off all its Twitter advertising.
Under previous ownership advertising made up almost 90 per cent of Twitter’s revenue. Musk has brought his business model to the company, suggesting a paid-for verification service, as well as adding in paywalls.
While Musk has emphasised the need for free speech and a relaxed approach to content moderation and misinformation, companies around the world are looking at distancing themselves from the social media app.
