Advertisers urged to shun Twitter in new blow for Elon Musk

Elon Musk faced the latest setback since his £38billion Twitter takeover as thousands of the world’s biggest brands were warned to avoid the platform. 

Advertising giant Omnicom, which represents 5,000 firms including McDonald’s, Apple and Pepsi, told customers to pause promotions on the site. 

Cash crisis: Elon Musk (pictured) admitted last week the business is losing £3.4m a day and ‘bankruptcy is not out of the question’

The marketing firm told the businesses that advertising on Twitter, where Musk is now chief executive, poses a ‘serious risk to brand safety’, according to reports. 

Racial slurs on Twitter have surged since Musk’s takeover last month. 

The US-based Center for Countering Digital Hate found posts using the N-word were triple the 2022 average in his first week as owner. 

And advertisers fear how the world’s richest man, a self-declared ‘free speech absolutist’, will change the way content is moderated.

Musk admitted last week the business is losing £3.4m a day and ‘bankruptcy is not out of the question’ because of advertisers putting spending on hold. 

He has accused ‘activist groups pressuring advertisers’ of ‘trying to destroy free speech in America’.