• by Colin Kirkland , February 9, 2023

Twitter is placing spots from major Super Bowl advertisers next to posts from some of the most controversial spreaders of hate and conspiracy theories, according to new research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a member of the #StopToxicTwitter coalition.

The research suggests CEO Elon Musk is failing to protect the brand safety of Twitter's few remaining major advertisers, some of which have signed advertising and sponsorship deals for Sunday’s big game.

CCDH's research depicts instances where brand advertisements are featured alongside inappropriate and offensive content coming from high-profile Twitter users who had been prohibited from the platform, then invited back under Musk's “general amnesty” rule.

For example, two months after Musk took over Twitter, an ad from freelance marketplace Fiverr sits directly under a tweet by Andrew Tate, who claims female business leaders marry rich men to “pay for their entire lives,” adding that the women's careers are just “hobby bullshit.”

Other examples show an NFL Super Bowl playoff ad featuring comedian Kevin Hart displayed adjacent to anti-vaccine disinformation posted by Emerald Robinson, and an Apple ad featuring actor Timothée Chalamet displayed next to a tweet in which conspiracy theorist Rogan O’Handley promotes the debunked claim that Ukraine was developing biological weapons with the assistance of the U.S. government.

The report continues to highlight examples featuring ads from brands like Amazon, Apple TV, Merrill Lynch, NFL and Prime Video next to tweets from 10 self-proclaimed neo-Nazis (all of which are accounts reinstated by Musk) and others who stoke fear and violence through lies.

CCDH’s analysis also highlights the money Twitter is making from the reckless placements, estimating that placing ads next to just the accounts of these 10 bad actors could generate up to $19 million in annual advertising revenue for the struggling microblogging platform.

“Our research shows that there is a depressingly banal answer to why Elon Musk would reinstate the accounts of self-professed Nazis, disinformation actors, misogynists and homophobes — it is highly profitable,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the CCDH.

Ahmed believes that Twitter has no right to claim ignorance and that brands should stop enabling the toxic platform, saying that “at some point, the toxic degradation of Twitter's brand will start to impact advertisers’ own brand equity."

“The CCDH research is definitive: Major advertisers are still paying Twitter tens of millions of dollars to drag their brands through the mud,” said Jessica J. González, co-CEO of media advocate organization Free Press and co-lead of the #StopToxicTwitter campaign.

“No amount of shiny Super Bowl commercials can make up for paying to place ads next to tweets from neo-Nazis and white supremacists,” added Nicole Gill, executive director of free speech advocate organization Accountable Tech.

The #StopToxicTwitter coalition, which consists of more than 60 civil-society and civil-rights groups, says it will increase public pressure on Apple and the NFL because of their strong Super Bowl presence, and attempt to persuade other major companies to stop advertising on Twitter.