Musk says advertisers returning to X

ROME

Elon Musk has claimed at a Rome meeting that advertisers were returning to X (formerly Twitter) after an exodus.

The billionaire was a star guest at the Atreju political festival organised by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party.

Asked about advertisers who had abandoned his platform over concerns about extreme posts, Musk said: "I think X will be fine, and we are actually already seeing advertisers return to X."

He added: "Brand advertisers are always worried about their brand.... But I think it's a short-term issue."

Musk's comments were more upbeat than previously, when he said the advertising boycott could "kill the company."

On Dec. 16, he said some of the organisations which had abandoned X were infected by a "woke mind virus", using the derogatory term "woke" used to condemn those seen as excessively socially aware.

He said identity politics was "very divisive", "anti-meritocratic" and "just no fun", drawing applause from the audience that included Meloni - who herself has railed against "woke ideology."

Facebook owner Meta's text-based app Threads arrived in the European Union, months after its global launch in July, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Dec. 14.

Threads is a spin-off of the Instagram photo app and is intended to be a rival to X, after that platform alienated many users and advertisers following Musk's purchase last year.

Threads went live in 100 countries earlier this year but not in the EU. Meta officials cited regulatory clarity as the reason for delaying the social network's arrival in Europe.