Elon Musk walks back 'go f‑‑‑ yourself' comments to advertisers

Elon Musk on Wednesday walked back harsh comments he made about advertisers in November, when he told the advertising industry to “fuck off” after several agencies pulled spending on his social media platform, X.

“It’s not aimed at all advertisers,” Musk said Wednesday in conversation with WPP CEO Mark Read at the Cannes Lions advertising festival.

“It’s about freedom of speech,” he continued. “I think it’s important to have a global free speech platform where people with a wide range of views can express their views.”

X’s billionaire owner claimed some advertisers were “insisting on censorship.”

After reports emerged that X had placed ads for mainstream brands next to pro-Nazi and white supremacist content, several major companies, including Disney, Apple, IBM, Comcast, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony Pictures and Paramount, suspended ad spending on the platform last fall.

Meanwhile, Musk launched into an expletive-filled tirade at advertisers at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit.

“If anyone tries to blackmail me with ads or money, damn it,” he said at the time. “Damn it. Got it? I hope so.”

Musk on Wednesday framed the situation as a choice between free speech and money.

“If we had to choose between censorship and money, or freedom of speech and losing money, we would choose the latter,” he said. “We would rather support freedom of speech than agree to be censored for the sake of money. I think that’s the right moral decision.”

But he also acknowledged that advertisers “have the right to place their ads next to content that they believe is compatible with their brand.”

“That’s totally fine,” Musk said, “but to say there can’t be content on your platform that you disagree with is not OK.”

“For X to be the world’s public square, it has to be a platform where freedom of speech is guaranteed,” he added. “That doesn’t mean people can say illegal things. Freedom of speech within the bounds of the law.”