Elon Musk settles long-running legal battle with X advertising group

Elon Musk’s X has settled a long-running legal battle with a major advertising trade body that it had accused of orchestrating an “illegal boycott” against the social media platform.

The advertisers rejected the allegations, arguing brands had the right to decide where to spend their money themselves rather than be forced to back a particular platform. The case was dismissed in March by a federal judge but X then launched an appeal in April.

In a statement on Wednesday, X Corp and the WFA said they were “putting the litigation . . . behind them”. They added that this “resets the relationship between the two organisations”. No terms of the agreement were disclosed.

The WFA said it “reiterates its commitment to freedom of speech, a principle first included in WFA’s founding constitution back in 1953, and a principle it shares with X”.

In 2024, X dropped Unilever from the lawsuit after it restarted advertising on the platform.

When it filed the lawsuit, Musk posted that “we tried being nice for 2 years and got nothing but empty words. Now, it is war.”

Musk has had other run-ins with advertisers, including telling them “go fuck themselves” after advertising revenues fell after his takeover. X last year merged with xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, which has in turn combined with SpaceX.