Daily Newsletter

15 October 2024

Daily Newsletter

15 October 2024

Unilever settles advertising boycott lawsuit with Elon Musk’s X

The lawsuit involved X suing a clutch of major companies, claiming they unlawfully conspired to boycott the site.

Andy Coyne

UK consumer goods giant Unilever has resolved its legal spat with social media giant X.

In a filing in federal court in Wichita Falls, Texas, on Friday (11 October), seen by Just Food, X said it was dismissing its claim against Unilever made in an August lawsuit.

The lawsuit involved X suing a clutch of major companies, including Unilever and Mars, claiming they unlawfully conspired to boycott the site.

X said the companies had conspired with an advertising industry group, the World Federation of Advertisers, through its Global Alliance for Responsible Media initiative, to boycott the social media platform, causing it to lose revenue.

In its filing on Friday, X said the claims against all other defendants are unaffected by this dismissal and remain pending.

In a Tweet on its own platform after Unilever was removed from the lawsuit, X said: “X is pleased to have reached an agreement with Unilever and to continue our partnership with them on the platform. Today’s news is the first part of the ecosystem-wide solution and we look forward to more resolution across the industry.”

The terms of the settlement have not been revealed by either party.

Just Food asked Marmite and Hellmann's owner Unilever for its statement on the resolution of the dispute.

It said: “Unilever has reached an agreement with X, which has committed to meeting our responsibility standards to ensure the safety and performance of our brands on the platform. We cannot comment further on the terms of the agreement.”

Elon Musk has owned X since October 2022 but some advertisers subsequently decided to leave the site amid concerns their brands would appear next to harmful content.

The social media company’s lawsuit said they conspired “to collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue” from X, formerly known as Twitter.

Musk posted on X at the time: “We tried being nice for two years and got nothing but empty words. Now, it is war.”

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