• by Colin Kirkland , November 22, 2023

Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media is following other major advertisers including Apple, Disney and Lionsgate, suspending an ad campaign just one month after announcing an exclusive partnership with the Elon Musk-led platform, which continues to harbor and perpetuate antisemitic content. 

“11:11 Media made the decision to immediately pull the campaign from the platform,” Bruce Gersh, 11:11 Media’s president and chief operating officer, told CNN on Tuesday.

X’s two-year deal with Hilton’s media company marked a step forward for the platform in terms of live shopping, with a campaign that utilized emerging X features like live video and X Spaces, allowing users to watch a livestream, chat with other viewers and shop at the same time. 

The deal, which X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino had described as a “new era” for the platform, reportedly established a revenue-sharing agreement between X and 11:11 Media as well. 

Hilton’s media company is joining some of X’s biggest ad spenders that have expressed concern over the likelihood that their ads will run alongside hate speech and antisemitic content, causing damage to their brand reputation. 

After the watchdog group Media Matters for America released a report this week that showed X running ads next to hateful content, Musk sued the nonprofit for defamation, alleging that Media Matters for America manipulated X’s algorithm to drive advertisers away. 

The lawsuit comes after Musk publicly endorsed a post on X that blamed Jewish communities for pushing “hatred against Whites.” Musk said he was just promoting free speech, which he describes in the filing.

It is unclear whether 11:11 Media’s campaign suspension will also lead to the end of Hilton’s partnership with X. 

The pop culture icon has remained active on X, posting clips from her recent trip to Las Vegas as well as branded content advertising Black Friday deals for Hilton’s fragrance company. 

Last month, Insider Intelligence estimated that X was on a 54.4% year-over-year decline in global ad spending, dropping to $1.89 billion in advertising revenue for all of 2023. In 2022, advertising revenue was $4.12 billion.