German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen on Friday announced that it has asked brands under the company to temporarily stop paid promotion and advertising on the social networking platform, Twitter. The advertising freeze on Twitter will continue to be in effect till further notice.
Volkswagen based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. Various world-famous vehicle brands such as Audi, Ducati, Lamborghini, Bentley, Porsche, and Cupra are owned by the Volkswagen Group.
Most of these subsidiary companies of Volkswagen Group have a significant follower base on Twitter making it one of the biggest entities on the social media platform which spends a large amount of money on advertisement.
The company said in a statement that it will closely monitor the situation and will take timely decisions taking into consideration prevailing factors and conditions.
The decision of Volkswagen and its subsidiaries to freeze posting advertisements on Twitter will have a significant impact on the ad revenue of the social media company. Twitter like any other social media company mostly depends upon revenue from advertisements and promotions to fund the expansion and development of business.
The legal battle which occurred before the takeover of the company by Elon Musk and uneasiness amongst the public regarding new administrative changes implemented by Musk on Twitter had dampened the image of the social networking company in the business world.
Volkswagen is not the first multinational conglomerate to review advertising on Twitter. GM and General Mills Inc have also taken similar decisions regarding the future advertising of their products and services on Twitter.
Major US airlines, United Airlines, and healthcare giant Pfizer also have decided to stop advertising on Twitter.
Various groups of organizations have publicly come out against the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk and have called upon famous companies to stop advertising on Twitter. These activist groups believe that under the control of Elon Musk, Twitter will turn into an online social platform that breeds highly radicalized and defamatory, right-wing thoughts and content.
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called upon all advertisers on Friday to stop advertising on the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO, Elon Musk.
