Following the departure of advertisers from X, formerly Twitter, over concerns about anti-Semitic content on the site, The campaign was a high-profile win for X, as it would see Hilton promote key X features such as live video, live e-commerce, X Spaces (live audio), and more over the course of two years.
Hilton even contributed a bright pink custom icon for X’s Premium subscribers.
The terms of the deal were confidential but included a revenue-sharing element – but not on Premium upgrades to access the new code, we understand.
CNN He was the first to report the deal had collapsed, citing concerns about anti-Semitism and pro-Nazi content on the site as factors in 11:11 Media’s decision.
“The media has made the decision to immediately pull the campaign from the platform,” Bruce Gersh, 11:11 Media president and COO, told the site.
Hilton’s media company is the latest in a long line of brands to pause or halt spending on X as a result of brand safety concerns, joining other big names like Apple, Disney, Comcast, IBM, Warner Bros., Paramount, Lionsgate, and others. . Brands are concerned about the damage to their reputation if their ads appear next to hate speech and anti-Semitic content. Despite X CEO Linda Yaccarino’s assurances that X had brand safety controls in place, a report from Media Matters showed how X was running ads next to hateful content. However, X claimed that Media Matters tampered with its service, causing ads to appear, rather than actually finding the ads. She then immediately sued for defamation.
But even X’s own complaint doesn’t dispute that the ads were real and ran alongside hate speech, only that it didn’t like that Media Matters found a scenario where the ads could avoid protecting the integrity of X’s brand in this way.
Given these concerns, as well as Musk’s endorsement of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on the platform, many advertisers are reconsidering their spending on 54.4% year-over-year increase in worldwide ad spending, from 2022 to 2023. Musk also publicly stated that X’s ad revenue in the US fell by 60%, following pressure from the Anti-Defamation League, which accused the owner of anti-Semitism. (Musk, in turn, threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League as well.)