Elon Musk’s Critical Commentary
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has once again taken aim at Walt Disney Co.’s advertising budget allocated to Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta Platforms Inc., amidst ongoing child exploitation controversies surrounding the Facebook-parent company.
The Unfortunate Events
On Friday, Musk utilized X, formerly known as Twitter, to share an article published by The Wall Street Journal titled “Meta Staff Found Instagram Tool Enabled Child Exploitation. The Company Pressed Ahead Anyway.”
Referring to the juxtaposition between Disney’s ad spending and Meta’s recent issues, Musk remarked, “And yet [Disney] spends billions on advertising with Meta.”
Revelations and Repercussions
The aforementioned report by WSJ highlighted that two teams within Meta had raised concerns upon discovering that numerous “parent-managed minor accounts” were leveraging the platform’s subscription feature to promote exclusive content to paying followers. This content predominantly featured underage girls in swimwear and leotards, attracting a male audience that made explicit and inappropriate comments.
Investigations unveiled that the payment feature had been introduced without essential child safety measures in place.
Significance of the Critique
This isn’t the first instance of Musk criticizing Disney’s advertising decisions. The tech luminary had previously voiced disapproval over companies retracting ads from his social media platform X while amplifying their advertising expenditures on Instagram.
The surge in Disney’s ad spending on Instagram amidst the allegations has attracted significant controversy. Notably, several major corporations, including Disney, had paused advertising on Musk’s platform X in the past.
A report by Sensor Tower released in December indicated that Disney and Comcast had increased their investments in Instagram by 40% and 6%, respectively, over a two-week period commencing on November 20.
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