Musk is attending Cannes Lions this week, aimed at reassuring advertising groups and global brands about the future of X.
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Elon Musk on Wednesday tried to walk back comments he made about advertisers fleeing his X social media platform.
At the Cannes Lions advertising festival in Cannes, France, WPP CEO Mark Read asked Musk why he told advertisers to “get over yourselves” late last year when they threatened to pull advertising from the platform.
Musk said it was a general issue of free expression, not a comment on the broader advertising industry.
“It wasn't just about advertisers,” Musk said. “It was about freedom of expression. I think it's important to have a global free expression platform where people with a wide range of opinions can express their views.”
“In some cases, there were advertisers that were pushing for censorship,” Musk said. “Ultimately … if we had to choose between censorship and losing money, we would definitely fight censorship.” [or] Censorship and money, or free speech and losing money, we're going to choose the second option.”
“We would rather support freedom of expression than accept censorship for money, which I think is the right moral decision,” he said.
Musk visited Cannes earlier this week, aiming to reassure advertising groups and global brands about X's future.
She was accompanied by Linda Yaccarino, CEO of Axe and former president of global advertising and partnerships at NBC Universal.
Last year, some of the world's biggest advertisers, including Apple, IBM, Disney and Sony, pulled their advertising on X in the wake of controversial comments made by Musk, as well as instances of their ads appearing alongside toxic posts.
In November, Musk visited Israel to meet with local officials after civil rights groups accused him of promoting anti-Semitic hatred at X.
The tech billionaire was asked at the time if the trip was an “apology tour” to advertisers, telling the stage at the 2023 DealBook Summit in New York that advertisers had threatened to halt ad spending on the platform should they stop advertising on his platform.
In an interview with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin in November, he said, “Don't advertise. If somebody tries to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Then go fuck yourself.”
Musk on Wednesday walked back his attacks against advertisers.
“Of course, advertisers have the right to appear next to content they feel is favorable to their brand,” he said. “What's not good is that there's an emphasis on there being no content they disagree with on the platform.”
He added: “In order for X to be a public forum for the world, it would be better if it were a free expression forum – that doesn't mean people can say illegal things; it's free expression within the bounds of the law.”
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.