Every day, Elon Musk is making it clear that our communities were right to be worried about his takeover of Twitter. In the past few months, Musk has consistently and publicly espoused antisemitic and white nationalist beliefs in tweets from his account and in his interactions with well-known fascists on Twitter. Musk tweeted that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and that the media is “racist” against white people. That same day, he also stated that he believed the recent mass shooting at an Allen, Texas outlet mall was a “psyop” of the U.S. government rather than the actions of a known white nationalist. Days later during a televised interview with CNBC, Musk doubled down on his belief that the mass murder was not carried out by a white nationalist and called any evidence to the contrary “bullsh-t.” To top it off, Musk is welcoming disgraced former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to relaunch his dangerous show on Twitter. Carlson delivered white nationalist propaganda and outright lies nightly to millions of viewers. 

And now, Musk is helping launch Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign, which could take DeSantis’ anti-Black book bans and attacks on the LGBTQ+ community nationwide. 

Corporate advertisers have been fleeing Twitter in droves thanks to the pressure of Color Of Change members. But some major advertisers, including Apple, Disney, the NBA, and the NFL, continue to hand Musk millions of dollars each  month — directly funding Musk’s rapid transformation of the platform into a megaphone for the most hateful people. 

This comes on the heels of Twitter decimating policies meant to protect Black and queer users. These policy changes have led to an undeniable surge in white nationalist and anti-LGBTQ+ hate on the platform. 

Our fight to stop companies from funding Twitter’s descent into white nationalism is working, thanks to Color Of Change members. Nearly 75% of the platform’s top advertisers have stopped spending for ads on Twitter; ad revenue is down 65%. As the platform becomes more dangerous and less reliable, there is no real reason for a company to continue advertising on Twitter, unless that company purposefully wants to be associated with hate. 

A few companies are delaying the inevitable, and we need your help to make sure they understand how damaging it is for their brand to advertise on Twitter. Tell the NFL, NBA, Disney, and Apple to stop funding Musk’s white nationalist agenda!

Here is the Petition:

Dear decision-makers at NFL, NBA, Apple, and Disney,

We are calling on you to take concrete actions to ensure that Twitter is a safe and welcoming environment for Black users. We ask that you publicly commit to cease all advertising on Twitter until Elon Musk meets the following demands to protect users and keep hateful content off the platform:

• Implement a robust and transparent content moderation system by re-establishing strong community guidelines and investing in enforcement of those guidelines to keep hateful and racist content off Twitter.
• Conduct a fully independent, third-party evaluation of Twitter products and policies for discrimination and civil rights violations.
• Permanently ban the accounts of those previously suspended and deplatformed prior to Musk’s takeover of Twitter.
• Re-establish and enforce the current hateful conduct policies prohibiting the targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals. 
• Return to and uphold the company's previous commitment to prohibit the use of the term “groomer” and other such hate-driven slurs that falsely, baselessly, and maliciously characterize LGBTQ+ people, allies, and medical professionals who help them as pedophiles.

Already, major companies such as Unilever, General Motors, and L’Oréal have stopped advertising on Twitter until brand and user safety can be assured. As a corporate leader and company that has a strong investment in brand safety, you should cease advertising on Twitter until Elon Musk meets these demands to ensure that Twitter is a welcoming platform.