Politics

The crux of it can basically be summarized from two paragraphs:

The reason for the resurgence of ad sales appears to be tied to Musk’s prominent position in the Trump administration—a fact that can really cut both ways for companies. On one hand, the Trump administration has always come off as quite transactional, so if you put some money in the right coffers, you just might gain some benefit. On the other hand, it can be severely vindictive (particularly Musk, who seems to cast aside anyone over the slightest criticism) and unafraid to use its levers of power to punish.

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It’s difficult attribute the uptick in ad spends to anything other than favor trading. It’s not as though platform has gotten better since advertisers first started boycotting it. A recent study published in PLOS One found that hate speech increased by 50% following Musk’s takeover, with no meaningful reduction in bots or other inauthentic accounts that Musk once railed against as the platform’s biggest problem. Meanwhile, the site is losing users, seeing activity drop 22% since Election Day while rivals Threads and Bluesky have seen a jump in activity.