Whereas Elon Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino have repeatedly lauded the truth that their X undertaking is “not boring”, I’m fairly certain that the occasions of this week would have them each relieved to see a interval of relative boredom heading into the vacation break.

Although that, after all, appears unlikely.

This week, X has been hit with a brand new raft of challenges, principally stemming from Musk’s personal statements and public stances on varied points.

To recap, all through the week:

• A brand new third-party evaluation report urged that X isn’t doing sufficient to fight misinformation across the Israel-Hamas warfare, which is basically supported by X’s personal enforcement numbers
• Based mostly on this, and different reviews, the European Fee introduced that it could cease promoting on X, as a consequence of “widespread considerations referring to the unfold of disinformation”
• The next day, IBM additionally introduced that it could halt all promoting on X on account of a brand new report from Media Issues which confirmed that X is inserting paid promotions alongside pro-Nazi materials in-stream
• On that very same day, Musk amplified and supported an anti-Semitic speaking level on X, which has been linked to varied assaults on Jewish individuals through the years (SMT won’t be repeating the main points of this)
• Because of Musk’s put up, a number of big-name advertisers have now introduced that they’ll even be pausing their X advert campaigns, together with Apple, Lionsgate, Disney, and extra. The record of advertisers becoming a member of this new boycott is rising by the hour
• A federal choose additionally rejected an try by X to overturn an FTC wonderful of $150 million (stemming from actions below earlier Twitter administration)
• On one other entrance, an trade watchdog has referred to as on the FTC to look at X’s new advert codecs, a few of which aren’t clear sufficient of their disclosure. That would result in a brand new investigation into X’s advert practices

So, yeah, it hasn’t been a fantastic week for Elon and Co., and their newly free-speech-aligned X app, which is now considerably extra reliant on crowd-sourced moderation, through Neighborhood Notes, to handle key duties. Which, primarily based on a rising variety of investigations, is clearly not able to dealing with such.

Although that, after all, isn’t even the most important concern, with Elon’s personal commentary taking the mantle for X’s central enterprise drawback this week.

Elon has lengthy been defiant on this entrance, repeatedly stating that he’ll say what he desires within the app, even when it means dropping cash because of this.

And it does appear that he’s about to learn how costly his commentary could be. As a reminder, X’s advert income is already down a minimum of 50% on final 12 months, so any lack of a serious model accomplice shall be important, when it comes to the continued viability of the app.

As a result of despite the fact that Musk has lower prices considerably, by culling 80% of employees, shutting down knowledge facilities, promoting off Twitter-branded artifacts, and extra. Even with all that in thoughts, X continues to be driving the road on profitability.

In a current interview, Yaccarino mentioned that X might be near turning a revenue in early 2024, although that declare was additionally primarily based on 90% of the app’s high 100 advertisers having returned to the platform in current months.

Now, lots of them are leaving as soon as once more. And with Apple making a giant assertion by asserting its resolution to halt X advertisements, it’s now anticipated that many extra massive names will comply with go well with.

And all of the whereas, Meta’s various real-time app Threads continues to develop, and turn out to be a much bigger place for information dialogue, particularly amongst journalists, a gaggle that Musk continues to deride, actively dissuading them from staying energetic on his platform.

Which may be one other aspect that continues to harm X’s restoration efforts, with Musk additionally taking the chance to assault IBM for its resolution to halt X advertisements, amongst his ongoing assaults on “legacy media”. Which is a story that Musk continues to drive, that nobody actually has an issue with something that he’s saying, however that conventional media, which is in competitors with X for advert {dollars}, is colluding to cease him, and destroy his free speech push.

Which is solely not true, is unfounded, and never a viable principle in any method. Many big-name manufacturers, like Apple, have really caught with X, regardless of Musk’s ongoing antics. However now, it’s his statements and stances which have pushed them away.

It’s not a media narrative, nor a conspiracy to quell the “actual reality”.

The one individual responsible for X’s troubles is Musk himself.

Which goes to price him cash, which, as famous, Musk has mentioned that he’s wonderful with. However along with his advertiser pool shrinking, that might rapidly turn out to be an existential menace for the app, if Yaccarino and Co.’s harm management efforts usually are not in a position to stem the rising tide.

And it does really feel like a tide this time, it looks like many are viewing this because the final straw. Certainly, even some main Tesla buyers have declared Musk’s newest feedback as a step too far, and are advising their purchasers to tug out of his initiatives.

Will it’s a serious turning level, for Musk and/or X? Will it gasoline the rise of Threads as a real X rival?

In some methods, it already has, whereas Musk, in his personal, cussed method, appears to have begrudgingly acknowledged that his feedback might have brought about offense.

He hasn’t apologized, nor taken a backwards step. However that subsequent step is probably going the one method out of this mess at this stage.

Can Musk really do this? Will his ego enable him to step ahead, admit that he was incorrect, and take steps to rectify the scenario?

And if he does, will that be sufficient to carry advert {dollars} again?

Heading into the most important advert spending interval of the 12 months, Musk’s statements are horrendous, from all views.

May they be the start of the tip of X?