Apple CEO Tim Cook looks on following a conversation on mental health, during a spousal program on the last day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week at Apple Park in San Francisco, California, on November 17, 2023.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
Apple and Disney have paused online advertising campaigns on X, formerly Twitter, after owner Elon Musk said he agreed with a social media post accusing “Jewish communities” of pushing “hatred against whites,” according to sources familiar with both companies’ moves.
Warner Bros Discovery, Paramount Global and Lions Gate Entertainment are also suspending campaigns on the social media service, spokespeople for the company confirmed. Additionally, a spokesperson for Comcast, which owns Bravo and Xfinity and is also the parent company of CNBC, said Friday that it is pausing its online advertising campaigns on the real-time messaging service.
Apple’s move was first reported by Axios and Disney’s by The New York Times.
The iPhone maker was singled out in a report published this week by the nonprofit group Media Matters for America as one of a handful of big companies, including IBM, Bravo, Oracle and Infinity, whose online X ads were displayed next “to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.”
An IBM spokesperson said Thursday that the tech giant would halt its online ad campaigns on X: “IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation.”
Apple, Disney and Oracle did not respond to requests for comment.
A coalition of 163 Jewish leaders, activists and academics representing both major political parties also issued a statement this week in response to Musk’s recent behavior, calling on businesses such as Disney, Apple and Amazon “to stop funding X through their ad spend.”
The X Out Hate group originally urged those companies to suspend their online advertising…
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