And what better way to get their attention than with large letters soaring across the sky?
Ahead of Musk's keynote speech at the POSSIBLE ad convention at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel, civil-rights activists from the groups Free Press, Media Matters for America, and Accountable Tech have strategically flown banners above the event venue in an attempt to remind advertisers of the fallout from Twitter's increasing tolerance of hate speech. On Monday, as advertising industry executives gathered in Miami Beach for the three-day event, the groups flew an all-caps banner that read, "Musk Is Bad For Business #StopToxicTwitter."
On April 18, an hour before Musk's afternoon keynote speech, a banner that read, "Brands Deserve Better #StopToxicTwitter," circled the venue.
“We know advertisers see Twitter for the hellscape it has become under Musk," Nora Benavidez, Free Press senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights, said in a statement. "The real question now is what they’re going to do about it."
The Google-sponsored event, organized by the marketing trade association MMA Global, runs April 17-19. Speakers include the likes of Alex Rodriguez, LL Cool J, and Jon Bon Jovi..@elonmusk has taken action after action to make @Twitter more hateful & more tolerant of bigotry, anti-LGBTQ, violent rhetoric. Advertisers have a responsibility to stand up against Musk’s rewarding toxic content with visibility. Join the ad movement to #StopToxicTwitter. pic.twitter.com/TjGvV7H7Dj
— Nora Benavidez (@AttorneyNora) April 17, 2023
Musk's Miami visit comes on the heels of more than half of Twitter's top 1,000 advertisers leaving the platform as of February, according to data shared with Vox by the digital marketing analysis firm Pathmatics. Of Twitter’s top ten advertisers before Musk acquired the platform, only six still advertised with the social media site as of late March, according to the firm. The exodus came as Musk's platform loosened its restrictions on misinformation and hate speech.
A few days after Musk took control of Twitter, he conceded that the company "had a massive drop in revenue," which he attributed to activist groups pressuring advertisers.
Elon Musk attends Heidi Klum's 21st Annual Halloween Party on October 31, 2022 in New York City.
Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images
"Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America," Musk tweeted.
The protests in Miami coincide with Musk's controversial rollback of Twitter's longtime hateful-conduct policy as it relates to transgender people.
According to LGBTQ-advocacy group GLAAD, the 2018 policy previously read: “We prohibit targeting others with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to dehumanize, degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category. This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”
That last sentence was quietly removed –– its last known appearance in the policy dates to April 7, according to a search on the Wayback Machine's internet archive.
The practice of targeted misgendering and deadnaming has been categorized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other civil-rights groups as a form of hate speech
"Twitter’s decision to covertly roll back its longtime policy is the latest example of just how unsafe the company is for users and advertisers alike," reads a statement from GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.
At the conference, Musk had an onstage discussion with NBCU chair of global advertising Linda Yaccarino, in which he defended Twitter's new policy of "freedom of speech, not reach," according to an AdExchanger report.
"If somebody has something hateful to say, that doesn’t mean you should give them a megaphone. They should still be able to say it, but it shouldn’t be pushed on people... We’re not going to promote that to people or recommend it," Musk said.
MMA Global, which has 800 member companies globally, billed the Miami Beach event as a "centerpiece for the entire marketing and media community to network with industry peers, share ideas, present visions and discuss mutual challenges."
In early April, a series of allegedly leaked emails obtained by Semafor showed that the trade association's leaders, largely composed of high-level marketing executives, had reservations about Musk's presence at the conference and were concerned the controversy surrounding his participation would overshadow the event. One fast-food company marketing executive reportedly recalled how brand managers were forced to "navigate a situation post-acquisition" of Twitter "that objectively can only be characterized as ranging from chaos to moments of irresponsibility."
A Twitter executive who was participating in the conversation offered to arrange a meeting between Musk and the concerned MMA Global leaders at the conference "in an effort to foster the most healthy conversation possible," according to the report.
