In a digital world where social media platforms are the new town squares, Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) is starting to look like a ghost town.

Major brands and media giants are not just hitting the pause button on their ad campaigns, they’re packing up and leaving the platform altogether.

The exodus began when Musk, the maverick billionaire and Tesla CEO, endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory. The fallout was swift and severe. Big names like Disney, Paramount, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN’s parent company) have all gone radio silent on X.

The silence isn’t just limited to their corporate accounts. High-profile accounts associated with Disney, such as @StarWars, @Pixar, and @MarvelStudios, have also gone dark. These accounts, which used to post multiple times a day to their millions of followers, have now migrated to Threads, a rival platform owned by Meta.

The shift is palpable. When Stephen Colbert, the host of “The Late Show,” had to take a week off due to appendicitis, the news was shared on Threads, not X.

X Losing Revenue and Content

The silence from these media behemoths must be deafening for X. The platform is not just losing ad revenue, it’s also losing content. And in the world of social media, content is king.

The future of X is uncertain. It’s possible that these companies might return, but it’s also possible they won’t. With Musk at the helm, the platform has seen a surge in hate speech. The risk of associating with the platform might outweigh the rewards.

The situation is reminiscent of when Tucker Carlson’s controversial comments drove advertisers away from Fox News’ 8 p.m. slot. If more companies and notable figures abandon X, the platform might lose its allure.

As Casey Newton from Platformer put it, “Every day, more brands are waking up to the reality that Twitter is dead and X is a cesspool.” The digital town square is now dispersed across many platforms, and the most relevant conversations are happening elsewhere. For X, it seems, when it rains, it pours.

Read more at CNN.