4 April 27 - MAy 3, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ▼ MIAMI BEACH #TOXIC TWIT ANTI-MUSK BANNERS FLY AS ELON MUSK KEYNOTES MIAMI BEACH CONFERENCE. BY ALEX DELUCA A s Elon Musk dropped into town last week to mingle with marketing executives for an in- ternational ad conference in Miami, a group of activists hoped to convince advertisers that the Twitter boss’ unpredictable ways are bad for business. And what better way to get their attention than with large letters soaring across the sky? Ahead of Musk’s keynote speech at the POSSIBLE ad convention at the Fontaineb- leau Miami Beach Hotel, civil-rights activists from the groups Free Press, Media Matters for America, and Accountable Tech strategi- cally flew banners above the event venue in an attempt to remind advertisers of the fall- out from Twitter’s increasing tolerance of hate speech. On April 17, as advertising indus- try executives gathered in Miami Beach for the three-day event, the groups flew an all- caps banner that read, “Musk Is Bad For Busi- ness #StopToxicTwitter.” On April 18, an hour before Musk’s after- noon keynote speech, a banner that read, “Brands Deserve Better #StopToxicTwitter,” circled the venue. “We know advertisers see Twitter for the hellscape it has become under Musk,” Nora Benavidez, Free Press senior counsel and di- rector of digital justice and civil rights, said in a statement. “The real question now is what they’re going to do about it.” The Google-sponsored event, organized by the marketing trade association MMA Global, ran April 17-19. Speakers included the likes of Alex Rodriguez, LL Cool J, and Jon Bon Jovi. Musk’s Miami visit came on the heels of more than half of Twitter’s top 1,000 adver- tisers leaving the platform as of February, ac- cording to data shared with Vox by the digital marketing analysis firm Pathmatics. Of Twit- ter’s top ten advertisers before Musk ac- quired the platform, only six still advertised with the social media site as of late March, ac- cording to the firm. The exodus came as Musk’s platform loosened its restrictions on misinformation and hate speech. A few days after Musk took control of Twitter, he conceded that the company “had a massive drop in revenue,” which he attrib- uted to activist groups pressuring advertisers. “Extremely messed up! They’re trying to de- stroy free speech in America,” Musk tweeted. The protests in Miami come amid Musk’s controversial rollback of Twitter’s longtime hateful-conduct policy as it relates to trans- gender people. According to LGBTQ advo- cacy group GLAAD, the 2018 policy previously read: “We pro- hibit targeting others with re- peated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to dehumanize, degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category. This includes tar- geted misgendering or deadnaming of trans- gender individuals.” That last sentence was quietly removed — its last known appearance in the policy dates to April 7, according to a search on the Way- back Machine’s internet archive. The practice of targeted misgendering and deadnaming has been categorized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other civil-rights groups as a form of hate speech “Twitter’s decision to covertly roll back its longtime policy is the latest example of just how unsafe the company is for users and ad- vertisers alike,” reads a statement from GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. At the conference, Musk had an onstage dis- cussion with NBCU chair of global advertising Linda Yaccarino, in which he defended Twit- ter’s new policy of “freedom of speech, not reach,” according to an AdExchanger report. “If somebody has something hateful to say, that doesn’t mean you should give them a megaphone. They should still be able to say it, but it shouldn’t be pushed on people... We’re not going to promote that to people or recom- mend it,” Musk said. MMA Global, which has 800 member companies globally, billed the Miami Beach event as a “centerpiece for the entire market- ing and media community to network with industry peers, share ideas, present visions and discuss mutual challenges.” [email protected] | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS “WE KNOW ADVERTISERS SEE TWITTER FOR THE HELLSCAPE IT HAS BECOME UNDER MUSK.”
