Elon Musk Flexes ‘Truth In Advertising’ On X Versus Instagram

strongThe new (Twitter) logo rebranded as X displayed on mobile with Elon Musk in the background, seen in this illustration in Brussels, Belgium on 20 August 2023. The internet billionaire has emphasized the value of truth and Community Notes in his most recent comparison post between Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, and Meta Platforms Instagram.  JONATHAN RAA/NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES/strong
strongThe new (Twitter) logo rebranded as X displayed on mobile with Elon Musk in the background, seen in this illustration in Brussels, Belgium on 20 August 2023. The internet billionaire has emphasized the value of truth and Community Notes in his most recent comparison post between Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, and Meta Platforms Instagram.  JONATHAN RAA/NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES/strong


By Ananya Gairola

In the latest comparison post between Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, and Meta Platforms Instagram, the tech billionaire has highlighted the importance of “truth” and Community Notes.  

What Happened: On Tuesday, a graphic designer at Dogecoin took to X and raised a red flag regarding a sponsored gameplay advertisement. 

The user, who goes by the name Doge Designer on the microblogging site, said that a sponsored ad that misled users got Community Noted on X, wherever the identical advertisement on Instagram was being promoted without undergoing any fact verification. 

The new (Twitter) logo rebranded as X displayed on mobile with Elon Musk in the background, seen in this illustration in Brussels, Belgium on 20 August 2023. The internet billionaire has emphasized the value of “truth” and Community Notes in his most recent comparison post between Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, and Meta Platforms Instagram.  JONATHAN RAA/NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

The ad in question is Envoy Games.

In response, Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion last year and rebranded it to X, said, “Finally having truth in advertising is awesome.” 

Finally having truth in advertising is awesome

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 22, 2023

Community Notes, previously known as Birdwatch, made a comeback in December 2022 under the ownership of Musk. This unique feature empowers users to append notes to potentially misleading posts. 

In June, Mark Zuckerberg also commended the feature saying that by adding flags Musk’s social media platform is working on improving user experience rather than removing information. 

At the time, the Meta CEO also stated that the tech giant had been developing advanced AI systems capable of detecting and categorizing harmful content.

The Zuckerberg-Musk Feud: The latest post has added a new chapter to the ongoing rivalry between Musk and Zuckerberg. 

The feud gained momentum following the debut of Instagram’s Threads, a text-based application launched in July. Threads was positioned as a direct competitor to X, but its popularity reportedly experienced fluctuations after an initial surge in user sign-ups.

Why It’s Important: Earlier this year, Musk expressed confidence in the new Twitter CEO, Linda Yaccarino, stating that “almost all of the advertisers have said that, they’ve either come back or they said they will come back.”

The new (Twitter) logo rebranded as X displayed on mobile with Elon Musk in the background, seen in this illustration in Brussels, Belgium on 20 August 2023. The internet billionaire has emphasized the value of “truth” and Community Notes in his most recent comparison post between Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, and Meta Platforms Instagram.  JONATHAN RAA/NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

Previously, Twitter, now X, had experienced an advertiser exodus, with many companies suspending their advertising spending on the platform over fears that their ads would appear near hate speech, disinformation, or other controversial content.

 

Produced in association with Benzinga