X (formerly Twitter) adds Lego, Nestle, Pinterest, and others to lawsuit against companies that suspended advertising

Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter, several companies have stopped advertising on the platform, and X has now expanded its lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and other companies, including Lego, Nestle, and Pinterest.

2025-02-01 Amended Complaint With [dckt 74 1] | DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25511116-2025-02-01-amended-complaint-with-dckt-74-1/

X expands lawsuit over advertiser 'boycott' to include Lego, Nestlé, Pinterest, and others | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/01/x-expands-lawsuit-over-advertiser-boycott-to-include-lego-nestle-pinterest-and-others/

In August 2024, X (formerly Twitter) sued the WFA and its member companies, Unilever, a major household goods company; Mars, a major food company; CVS Health, a healthcare company; and Ørsted A/S, a Danish power company, alleging that major companies' simultaneous suspension of advertising on X constituted a violation of antitrust laws. In the complaint, X claims that the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), an initiative of the World Federation of Advertisers, conspired to force member companies to stop or significantly reduce their purchases of X's advertising space. The WFA has announced that the lawsuit has forced it to abolish GARM due to 'significant depletion of resources and finances.'

Elon Musk declares 'this is war' on the advertising industry in Twitter's lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers - GIGAZINE

by UK Government

Furthermore, on November 18, 2024, X amended its complaint against WFA to include the video streaming platform Twitch as a defendant.

Twitter adds Twitch to lawsuit against alliance of companies that suspended advertising, claims lost advertising revenue is in the hundreds of billions of yen - GIGAZINE

On February 1, 2025 local time, X again amended its complaint, adding as defendants companies such as Nestle, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate, LEGO, Pinterest, Tyson Foods, and Shell. In the complaint, X claims that 'through GARM, we organized a boycott campaign against Twitter (now X) advertisers to force Twitter to comply with GARM's brand safety standards to GARM's satisfaction,' and that 'this effort resulted in WFA successfully damaging Twitter, causing at least 18 GARM-affiliated advertisers to stop buying ads on Twitter during the November-December 2022 period, and other advertisers to significantly reduce spending.'

According to the complaint, at the time of writing, the majority of X's advertising revenue appears to come from advertising from 'non-GRAM members' or 'small businesses that are not clients of GRAM member advertising agencies.' However, the boycott, which X claims is 'led by the WFA,' has reduced demand for X's advertising and has caused X's advertising prices to fall, the complaint states. As a result, X's advertising prices are apparently far below those charged by X's closest competitors in the social media advertising market. In its complaint, X argues that 'advertisers who pursue the boycott by refraining from purchasing advertising from X are giving up a valuable opportunity to purchase low-cost advertising inventory on a platform (X) whose brand safety meets or exceeds industry standards.'

In addition, Musk, the owner of X, reportedly told employees in January 2025 that 'user growth has stagnated, revenue is poor, and we are barely breaking even.'