The IT giant pulled the advertisements following a report by the left-leaning non-profit, Media Matters, that showed advert placement next to content promoting Nazi ideology.
ADVERTISEMENTIBM announced on Thursday that it was suspending advertising on X pending an investigation following a report from Media Matters that showed advertisements appearing next to publications that promoted anti-semitic and pro-Nazi content.
The report also showed that adverts for other major tech giants like Apple and Oracle were being displayed close to antisemitic content on the platform.
"IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination, and we have immediately suspended all our advertising on X while this totally unacceptable situation is investigated," the company said in a statement.
X (formerly Twitter) has said that its system does not intentionally place brands "actively next to this kind of content," and that the posts cited by Media Matters would no longer be able to make money off its content.
They added that the publications in question would be labelled as sensitive content.
Ad buyers have fled the social media platform following Elon Musk’s takeover last year as concerns around content moderation have flared following the mogul’s decision to cut a large majority of the workforce last year.
Reuters, citing third-party data, reported in October that monthly US ad revenue at X has declined at least 55 per cent year-over-year each month since the Musk takeover.
Musk has continued to provoke controversy in recent days by tweeting his approval of a publication that appeared to promote an antisemitic conspiracy theory. He also took aim at the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish NGO that combats antisemitism. The entity had been critical of X’s management of hate speech and misinformation on its platform.
On Thursday, the CEO of X, Linda Yaccarino posted to the platform:
“X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the board. I think that's something we can and should all agree on. When it comes to this platform, X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There's no place for it anywhere in the world -- it's ugly and wrong. Full stop," she said.
