{"text":[[{"start":6.64,"text":"Elon Musk’s X has settled a long-running legal battle with a major advertising trade body that it had accused of orchestrating an “illegal boycott” against the social media platform."}],[{"start":17,"text":"X Corp, the parent company of X, took a group of advertisers and the World Federation of Advertisers to court in 2024 claiming that they had conspired to move “billions of dollars” in advertising revenue away from the site."}],[{"start":31.14,"text":"The advertisers rejected the allegations, arguing brands had the right to decide where to spend their money themselves rather than be forced to back a particular platform. The case was dismissed in March by a federal judge but X then launched an appeal in April."}],[{"start":45.88,"text":"In a statement on Wednesday, X Corp and the WFA said they were “putting the litigation . . . behind them”. They added that this “resets the relationship between the two organisations”. No terms of the agreement were disclosed."}],[{"start":58.16,"text":"The appeal continues in the case against several companies also named in the lawsuit."}],[{"start":62.78,"text":"The agreement draws a line for the WFA under one of Musk’s most aggressive attempts to challenge the advertising industry after revenues at X fell sharply following his $44bn takeover of Twitter in 2022."}],[{"start":76.34,"text":"The WFA said it “reiterates its commitment to freedom of speech, a principle first included in WFA’s founding constitution back in 1953, and a principle it shares with X”."}],[{"start":87.36,"text":"It added that “WFA and X are fully aligned in the view that brands, platforms and consumers will all benefit from brand safety innovation.”"}],[{"start":95.6,"text":"X Corp’s lawsuit alleged that the drop in spending was related to standards set out by a WFA initiative called Global Alliance for Responsible Media (Garm), a coalition of brands and advertising agencies."}],[{"start":107.52,"text":"Garm was established in 2019 by the WFA to “help the industry address the challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetisation via advertising”."}],[{"start":118.96,"text":"The WFA said on Wednesday that it would not “form or restart Garm or a similar initiative”."}],[{"start":124.52,"text":"In 2024, X dropped Unilever from the lawsuit after it restarted advertising on the platform."}],[{"start":130.24,"text":"X relies on advertising to make money, but revenue dropped sharply after the acquisition of the site by Musk in 2022. Marketing executives have in the past expressed fears of seeing their brands being put next to harmful content and complained about content moderation on the platform."}],[{"start":148.08,"text":"When it filed the lawsuit, Musk posted that “we tried being nice for 2 years and got nothing but empty words. Now, it is war.”"}],[{"start":156.04,"text":"Musk has had other run-ins with advertisers, including telling them “go fuck themselves” after advertising revenues fell after his takeover. X last year merged with xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, which has in turn combined with SpaceX."}],[{"start":171.62,"text":"This story has been amended to reflect that the settlement was with the World Federation of Advertisers and not the individual advertisers also named in the X lawsuit."}],[{"start":184.98,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785384505_6412.mp3"}