Twitter loses government ads

THE Government has stopped advertising on Twitter in a fresh blow for Elon Musk’s social network as it faces an exodus of major brands.

Departments have stopped paying for adverts on Twitter, now known as X, in recent months, The Daily Telegraph understands.

The decision was taken before the company was plunged into an antisemitism row last week that has seen advertisers including Apple, Disney and the European Commission pull adverts.

A source said the decision was a commercial one, related to the effectiveness of advertising spending on Twitter, rather than a response to Mr Musk’s recent comments, which last week led to a reprieve from the White House.

While unrelated to the anti-semitism row, the Government’s decision to stop advertising on the platform will compound Mr Musk’s problems as he struggles to reverse slumping ad revenues.

Whitehall departments spent £5.4m on Twitter adverts in 2022, according to a Freedom of Information request.

It spent most heavily during the first few months of last year, for the vaccine booster programme, but continued to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds a month on Twitter ads into December, after Mr Musk bought the company.

A source said a decision to stop adverts was taken several months ago.

However, government accounts continue to advertise heavily on Facebook and Instagram, according to Meta’s advertising library, promoting issues such as tax-free childcare and rights for social housing tenants, spending £20.5m last year. Twitter/x did not respond to a request for comment.