You may recall that Elon Musk was none too pleased with Disney CEO Bob Iger when the Magic Kingdom pulled advertising funds off of X in a seemingly-coordinated effort by corporations to choke out the Twitter platform. Musk had made statements perceived by some as incendiary or controversial; rather than take his explanation on face value, the companies all suddenly ripped their funds from X with the likely intent to destroy the social media app similarly to how Parler was destroyed before. Unfortunately for those companies, the effort was totally unsuccessful.
Among all the companies, however, it was Disney alone whose CEO spoke out publicly to rebuke Musk. As a result, it was Disney who faced his ire.
Bob Iger response to Elon Musk: “None” pic.twitter.com/q7M7B59DVP
— Showcase of Wishes (@ShowcaseWishes) February 7, 2024
With Musk having the ear of the incoming president and X now becoming the largest news platform in the world, companies like Disney are backtracking and doing so in grandiose ways. Disney, for example, is returning to X advertising, and effectively paying Elon Musk to provide free speech and discourse all throughout the world.
BREAKING: Comcast, Disney, and IBM are returning to X after an ad-boycott. pic.twitter.com/r3XbL43aJk
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) November 15, 2024
The action stands in stark contrast to a number of online personalities who have declared they’re deactivating their X accounts and leaving for bluer skies. The return of a vast number of corporations to advertise their products and services on the largest news network suggests to the victor goes the spoils. In the case of X, Musk bet big on the election and seems to have (once again) managed to win convincingly. X took a very pro free speech stance once Musk purchased the company outright and transformed it from the Twitter it once was into a more wild west style platform. Many mocked the world’s richest man for overpaying… and even he wondered publicly if he could succeed with the purchase. Now it seems he most certainly has.
X has likewise put pressure on other platforms — such as YouTube — to allow more moderate and conservative opinions without shadow bans and/or hidden throttles. After all, competitive edge can be granted to an online locale that allows all demographics and world views to succeed within legal reason. It hasn’t been easy for Musk nor for X, but it would appear that the gamble has paid off tremendously.
For Bob Iger and Disney, rejoining X advertising (as well as other strong indicators they are pulling out of the culture war immediately to large degree) seems to have reinvigorated investors considerably. As of publication, Disney stock was up 3.93% on Friday following a 6% increase on Thursday. At a time when other similar competitors were struggling on Wall Street, the revelations that Disney is done with politics, abandoning Bob Iger’s crusades, may have just saved the day for the House of Mouse stockholders.
Disney Is Avoiding Political Controversies — Business Insider
It’s a new era for Disney. We’re excited to see what a moderated mouse can potentially achieve.
