Conservative media outlets may not have Disney’s marketing budget, but they’re increasing their ad buys on X in a show of support for owner Elon Musk as the platform faces a jarring boycott from major brands.
Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon said the satirical site doubled its initial $250,000 pledge to $500,000 after Disney and other top companies pulled their ads, saying it’s “the max we can afford, but it’s the least we can do.”
“Others are joining us with substantial commitments, including [YouTube host] Tim Pool and The Daily Wire,” Mr. Dillon said in a Friday email to subscribers. “Even more impactful are the small contributions from thousands of individuals who are signing up for X Premium. We urge you to join them.”
Ben Shapiro, editor emeritus of The Daily Wire, said the outlet spent $250,000 for advertising on X to promote the release of its first feature-length comedy, “Lady Ballers,” which premiered Friday on DailyWire+.
He characterized the move as part of an ideological showdown between free-speech advocates and companies. Disney CEO Bob Iger said at the summit that Disney suspended its ads because “we just felt the association with that position and Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us,” which Mr. Shapiro called “ridiculous.”
At The New York Times DealBook summit Wednesday, Mr. Musk apologized for his “foolish” tweet, saying, “it might be literally the worst and dumbest post I’ve done,” but also made it clear he wouldn’t beg advertisers to return, declaring “go f—— yourself.”
Other conservative influencers have called for Musk backers to drop their Disney+ subscriptions, which prompted a wave of cancellations this week.
Mr. Shapiro agreed with Mr. Musk’s assessment that a prolonged advertising boycott could doom X, which he called “the only social media platform that allows and is attempting to even preserve free speech.”
Mr. Musk, the world’s richest person, bought Twitter last year for $44 billion and renamed it X, vowing to end the platform’s shadow banning and censorship of conservative views.
His takeover came a few months after Twitter locked out The Babylon Bee for a satirical post declaring transgender Biden administration official Rachel Levine its Man of the Year.
Twitter said it would reinstate the account if the conservative Christian outlet deleted the tweet, but the Bee refused. Mr. Musk lifted the ban shortly after buying Twitter.
Mr. Dillon said that to win the free-speech fight, “we have to stop caring what freedom might cost us.”
“At one point we gave up our Twitter account because we refused to censor ourselves,” said Mr. Dillon. “That was a costly decision, but it was the right thing to do. And Musk is doing the right thing now, knowing full well it could end up crippling his company. We can’t stand by and let that happen.”
