Twitter's new owner Elon Musk told advertisers on Wednesday he aimed to turn the social media platform into a force for truth and stop fake accounts in an effort to assuage brands and advertising agencies that have increasingly been backing away, Reuters reported.
Days after Twitter rattled users and advertisers by cutting half its staff, over 100,000 listeners tuned in to hear Musk speak on Twitter's Spaces feature. He was joined by Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of safety and integrity, who has reassured users that Twitter would uphold its policies against harmful content.
Musk, the world's richest man, spoke calmly about his vision for Twitter, touting an $8 charge for premium subscriptions as a bot remedy and musing about the possibility of someday offering money market accounts.
In the week since Musk took over, GM, General Mills and Mondelez International Inc (MDLZ.O) have pulled ads off Twitter, concerned Musk could loosen content moderation rules. Major brands including Wendy's Co(WEN.O), Chick-fil-A, General Motors Co (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) monitored Musk's talk on Wednesday.
Musk blamed Twitter's "massive drop in revenue" on a coalition of civil rights groups that has ramped up pressure on advertisers, demanding they suspend ads globally after he laid off roughly half of the staff.
Directly addressing brands who have paused their ads, Musk said: "I understand if people want to give it a minute." But he added that "the best way to see how things are evolving is just use Twitter."
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