Elon Musk's X/Twitter is suing a group of advertisers and large companies, accusing them of illegally agreeing to "boycott" the site, UNN reports citing the BBC.
Details
The lawsuit was filed against food giants Unilever and Mars, private healthcare company CVS Health and renewable energy company Orsted, as well as a trade association called the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) in a Texas court.
X claims that they deprived him of "billions of dollars" in revenue.
Legal experts say that the case is unlikely to be successful, as it will be difficult to prove any collusion or agreement between the companies.
The lawsuit concerns a period in 2022, right after Musk bought X, then known as Twitter, when advertising revenues plummeted.
Some companies were wary of advertising on the platform, as fears grew that its new owner was not serious enough about removing harmful content.
In the year after Musk bought what used to be Twitter, advertising revenues fell by more than half.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino said: "People suffer when the marketplace of ideas is restricted. No small group of people should monopolize what is monetized.
She stated that the alleged "boycott" threatens the company's "ability to thrive in the future.
Musk tweeted: "We tried to be good for 2 years but got nothing but empty words. Now it's war".
WFA and the accused companies did not respond to requests for comment.
In his lawsuit, X claims that the accused firms unfairly withheld costs by following the safety standards set by the WFA's Global Alliance for Responsible Media (Garm) initiative.
Garm's stated goal is to "help the industry address the problem of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization through advertising.
In doing so, X alleges that the companies acted against their own economic interests in colluding against the platform, which violated U.S. antitrust or competition law.
Video hosting company Rumble, which is backed by right-wing influencers, made similar claims in a separate lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers on Tuesday.