'Now it is war,' says Elon Musk as X sues advertisers for boycotting platform

Elon Musk's social media platform X has sued the global advertising alliance and several major companies for boycotting the platform. 

X filed the lawsuit in Texas federal court against the World Federation of Advertisers and companies Unilever, Mars, CVS Health Corporation and Ørsted A/S.

The lawsuit said that the advertisers acting through a World Federation of Advertisers initiative called Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) "conspired to collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue" from X. 

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The suit stems from a condition on GARM’s membership, which states that members agree to withhold advertising from platforms that are "non-compliant with the brand safety standards.” These platforms are decided by the organisation. 

The suit added that GARM "celebrated and took responsibility for the massive economic harm imposed on X" by the boycott and that the boycott, as well as its effects, still continue to this day.

This is despite X applying brand safety standards comparable to those of its competitors which meet or exceed those specified by GARM, said the suit.

In a statement about the lawsuit, X's chief executive Linda Yaccarino said that “people are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is constricted. No small group of people should monopolise what gets monetised". 

"This behaviour is a stain on a great industry, and cannot be allowed to continue," said Yaccarino. 

Meanwhile, Musk has taken to X to encourage "any company who has been systemically boycotted by advertisers to file a lawsuit" and called the matter a "war" after trying peace for two years. 

This suit comes one day after Musk reportedly filed a new lawsuit in Northen California against OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Gregory Brockman.

The new lawsuit reportedly accuses the ChatGPT maker of abandoning its original nonprofit mission by reserving some of its most advanced AI technology for private customers and is engaging in "racketeering activity", reported CNN. 

It also reportedly claimed that Altman and Brockman "manipulated" Musk into co-founding OpenAI and is seeking a "constructive trust on the defendants' ill-gotten gains, property and assets traceable to Musk's significant contributions to OpenAI", according to CNN. 

It reportedly asked that a judicial determination that OpenAI's license to Microsoft is null and void too. 

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