X users noticed AppleTV's promotion for the second season of Severance on X, prompting speculation about Apple’s renewed advertising efforts after a lengthy hiatus due to concerns over far-right content and backlash against Elon Musk. Recently, five Democratic senators urged the Justice Department to investigate Musk for alleged unethical influence over advertisers, citing reports that he pressured firms like Interpublic Group to increase spending on X under the threat of jeopardizing significant business interests, including mergers currently under review by antitrust enforcers.
Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal, Adam Schiff, and Chris Van Hollen on Wednesday wrote to the Justice Department over the possibility that Musk is strong-arming businesses into returning to X under the threat of retaliation. They cited an incident in which an attorney for the company allegedly demanded that advertising conglomerate Interpublic Group get its clients to "spend more on Elon Musk's social media platform, or else," reported by The Wall Street Journal.
"Interpublic understood the implication of this threat: if its advertisers do not generate more revenue for X, it would face the risk that Musk could use his power in the Trump Administration to delay, or even block, Interpublic's pending $13 billion dollar merger with its rival - a merger that requires review by antitrust enforcers such as the DOJ," the letter stated.
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