Credit: Inside the MagicOne week after the election, it has emerged that Disney—along with several other major media companies—is once again supporting the Elon Musk-owned X.
Back in 2023, The Walt Disney Company was one of multiple companies to pause ad campaigns on X, formerly known as Twitter, after their ads were reported to have appeared alongside antisemitic content and hate speech.
This followed Musk himself endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory that claimed Jewish communities were pushing “hatred against whites.” As Zahed Amanullah, senior fellow at the London-based Institute of Strategic Dialogue, told the BBC, Musk actively supported a post that used “specific language that has been used in the past to justify violent attacks on synagogues.”
Now, however, according to Adweek, Comcast, IBM, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Lionsgate Entertainment have all resumed ad spending on X.
While it’s unclear when exactly they resumed funding ads on the platform, ad spending is still occurring at a much lower rate than before the boycott. According to marketing intelligence platform MediaRadar, Comcast—which owns Universal’s theme parks—spent less than $1.5 million on X this year, while Warner Bros. Discovery spent $1.1 million, and Disney spent $550,000.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate spent less than $230,000, and IBM paid the least of the bunch, at under $2,000. Apple, another major brand to pull its X advertising, has yet to return to the platform.
News of their return comes just one week after the election of President-elect Donald Trump. Musk famously has close ties to the incoming president and is set to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) alongside former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. It’s possible that these ties are part of the reason why Disney and co. have restored their X funding.
“X’s owner now has the ear of the president-elect, a man who has a long history of helping his friends, and punishing his enemies,” said Max Willens, senior analyst, at Emarketer (via Adweek). “Sending at least a trickle of ad spending toward X may be seen as good for business, albeit in an indirect way.”
Disney hasn’t always had the smoothest relationship with Elon Musk. After pulling its ad funding in 2023, Iger noted that he “had a lot of respect” for Musk, but explained that the company had no choice but to exit X.
“By him taking the position that he took in quite a public manner, we just felt that the association with that position, and with Elon Musk, and X was not necessarily a positive one for us and we decided we would pull our advertising,” he said at the New York Times Dealbook Summit.
Sneak peek inside Tiana’s Bayou Adventure 💚✨
Sneak peek inside Tiana's Bayou Adventure: https://t.co/Lx3mDdgjfw 💚✨ pic.twitter.com/KDCT4SzADR
— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) April 10, 2024
Disney also stopped posting on X around the time of the incident. However, it returned in April 2024, with a post that offered a sneak peek at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom and Disneyland.
At the same event, Musk was much more direct when asked about Disney specifically pulling its advertising. “Go f**k yourself, is that clear?” he said. “Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience. That’s how I feel, don’t advertise.”
A week later, Musk insisted that Iger needed to be fired from the position of CEO. “Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company,” he said on X.
He should be fired immediately.
Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company.
He should be fired immediately.
Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 7, 2023
That same month, Electrek reported that Musk’s company, Tesla, informed Disney+ of plans to pull the streaming service from its in-vehicle dashboard systems. Initially, Disney+ was told the app would be removed entirely. However, just days later, Tesla clarified that the removal would only apply to vehicles where the app had gone unused.
Musk has famously helped Gina Carano—the actress fired from The Mandalorian after a string of politically controversial social media posts—fund her lawsuit against Lucasfilm. He’s also floated the idea of purchasing and “fixing” The Walt Disney Company.
When it comes to beef between the two parties, Disney has always remained the more reserved of the two parties. However, with Musk likely to surge in political importance in the coming years, it’ll be interesting to see how this relationship develops.
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