For all their posturing, the world’s biggest brands are quietly crawling back to Elon Musk’s X.
After months of moral grandstanding – boycotting the platform over fears their content might appear next to views they don’t endorse – marketing departments are now slipping small chunks of their budgets back into X. Why? Because they know, deep down, business is business. And the cost of a public feud with the world’s richest man is simply too high.
Executives are reportedly allocating “just enough” to stay off Musk’s radar. Not because they believe the platform is suddenly safe or saintly, but because they’re terrified. Terrified that a single Musk tweet could send their stock price into freefall. That a legal letter might land in their inbox. That they’ll be the next target of his scorched-earth media strategy.
Let’s call this what it is: hypocrisy at scale.
“Stop pretending this is about ethics”
These same corporations – many of which turn a blind eye to working conditions, censorship, and environmental violations in emerging economies – are suddenly morally outraged by… content adjacency on a Western social media platform? Please. Spare us the sanctimony.
The reality is this: audiences are still on X. Millions of them. Engaged, loud, and spending. And whether brands like it or not, that’s where they need to be. Purpose-driven marketing is only credible if it’s consistent. And if you’re happy to trade in countries where human rights are a punchline, don’t claim the high ground over a few controversial tweets.
Musk may be brash, combative and legally aggressive – but he controls a digital town square that still matters. If brands want to protect their reputations and their bottom lines, they need to get real. Deliver for your shareholders. Show up where the audience is. Spend the money.
And stop pretending this is about ethics. It never was.
