The World Bank has suspended all paid advertising on Elon Musk's social media platform X (formerly Twitter) after a CBS News investigation found that ads promoting the organization were appearing underneath racist posts from an account that frequently posts pro-Nazi and white supremacist content.
CBS News discovered a verified X account with over 115,000 followers that was posting racist images next to posts praising the European colonization of Africa. CBS News does not publicly disclose which accounts are spreading racist content on X.
A promotional ad for the World Bank appeared in the comments section below the post.
“The World Bank Group had already reduced its paid marketing on X while working with the platform to implement the strongest safeguards it offers for its content,” a World Bank spokesperson told CBS News on Friday, adding that “this incident is completely unacceptable and we will immediately halt all paid marketing on X.”
Two screenshots from X, on the left, of a post containing a racist message, and on the right, a promotional ad for the World Bank that appeared beneath the post. The World Bank told CBS News on August 23, 2024, that it would be removing all paid advertising from the X platform after its ads appeared beneath racist posts.
CBS News reached out to X for comment on the World Bank's withdrawal from the platform, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
The account has shared dozens of anti-Semitic and racist posts in the past week alone, and CBS News found numerous corporate advertisements beneath posts where the account shared pro-Nazi content, including one that featured an archival video of Adolf Hitler with the caption “We defeated the wrong enemy.” According to X's own metrics, the post was viewed more than 2 million times on the platform.
CBS News found more than a dozen accounts on X with blue checkmarks indicating they are “verified” by the platform. The accounts have large followings, regularly post white supremacist and pro-Nazi content and feature advertisements for famous brands in their comment threads.
X's hateful conduct policy says users may not “attack others because of their race, ethnicity, nationality, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, religion, age, disability, or serious illness.” The platform also bans the targeting of individuals or groups, citing examples of media that mention or depict the Holocaust and “symbols historically associated with hate groups, such as the Nazi swastika.”
Advertisements for Saudi Arabia's national airline, Saudi Arabian Airlines, appeared in the same post as the World Bank ad. CBS News reached out to Saudia for comment on where the ads would appear and if and how the airline would invest money in the platform.
Court documents unsealed on Tuesday revealed that Kingdom Holdings, a conglomerate controlled by Saudi Arabia's royal family, is a major investor in X-Platform. Saudia Airlines is owned by the Saudi Arabian government.
On at least five occasions, promotional ads for backpack company Nordace appeared beneath posts from white supremacists and Nazi sympathizers on X, including an ad for Nordace backpacks that appeared beneath a post from another verified account with 161,000 followers.
The thread shared by the account included pro-Nazi posts such as “Anti-Semites will save the world” and “Weimar problems need Weimar solutions,” with the phrase “Weimar problem” painted in the colors of the LGBTQ rainbow flag. The Weimar Republic was the name used for Germany before Hitler established the Nazi regime.
Canadian company Nordis lists “respect people” and “make a positive impact” as its core values on its website.
CBS News has reached out to Nordace for comment on whether ads will run on X and how the company determines how much advertising will cost on the platform.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has been dismantling safety measures on the platform since he bought what was then Twitter Inc. in October 2022, including dramatic changes to its verification system, disbanding its trust and safety advisory group and broader changes to content moderation and policing of hate speech.
Trump tries to revitalize campaign with return to X 03:19
Musk created a system where X's algorithms favor accounts that pay for the platform's Blue Check subscription service. According to X's marketing for its authentication service, X Premium offers “prioritized replies” to all subscribers.
Since Musk bought the company, changes to X's business model have allowed influencers to monetize their content through verified subscriptions, which means subscribers are eligible to receive a cut of advertising revenue from their content if they have “cumulatively posted more than 5 million times in the past three months” and “have more than 500 followers.”
According to the platform's terms of use, an account can do this without disclosing its identity if the account holder privately discloses their identity to the platform.
“X allows the use of anonymous accounts, and account profiles are not required to use the account owner's name or image. Accounts that resemble other accounts on X do not violate this policy as long as the purpose is not to deceive or manipulate others,” the platform's own guidelines state.
All verified X accounts reviewed by CBS News are eligible to receive a portion of advertising revenue under this policy, according to the company's guidelines.
One account with over 500,000 followers that frequently shares anti-Semitic posts even goes so far as to brag about how much money it makes from X.
In a March post, the account shared a screenshot that appeared to show earnings from X's ad revenue sharing program for verified accounts, with the caption, “X monetization is overtaking TikTok and changing the entire social media landscape. Not sure if it's live streaming that made the difference or if X increased the revenue share, but I'm getting to the point where I can make a living off X.”
CBS News has reached out to X for comment on whether the accounts it investigates are profiting from their content and how it determines which verified accounts should receive advertising and revenue.
The account on which the Nordeis ad appeared shared several anti-Semitic posts, including one that said, “Our country grew from Jewish mobs and is now controlled by an international crime syndicate that hides behind the cry of 'anti-Semitism.'”
While no promotional ads appeared under that particular post, ads did appear under other posts from the account, including ads spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Musk has driven engagement with this particular X account in recent months by spreading unfounded conspiracy theories about media moguls trying to separate American children from their parents. In July, the account shared a clip of an old MSNBC commercial taken out of context with the caption, “The goal is to take our children away. They say it openly. This is why we have the Second Amendment.”
“Of course,” Musk replied to the post, which has been viewed 4.3 million times, according to X.
Musk has also interacted repeatedly with another verified account with about 366,000 followers, including an exchange between the tech mogul and the account as recently as Friday morning.
The account repeatedly promotes the so-called “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, an unfounded far-right claim that white Europeans are being demographically and culturally replaced by non-white people.
Last week, the account posted the unsubstantiated claim that there is a “war on white people that is happening, and that the mainstream media and politicians are 'ignoring' it.”
Paid ads also appeared beneath the post.
CBS News reached out to X's press office about whether the platform owner would be okay with engaging with such content, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
In an October 2022 post, Musk stated about Twitter's new policy, “There is free speech, but not free reach. Negative and hateful Tweets will be suppressed to the maximum extent possible and will be demonetized so that Twitter does not receive ads or other revenue,” adding that such content would be “no different from the rest of the internet and would not be findable unless you specifically looked for it.”
