General Mills pauses its advertising on Twitter

As prominent advertisers and users warily watch what will become of Twitter under new owner Elon Musk, General Mills joined the list of corporations taking a break from advertising on it.

"We have paused advertising on Twitter," Kelsey Roemhildt, a spokeswoman for General Mills, said in a statement. "As always, we will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend."

Roemhildt did not elaborate on the company's rationale for the decision.

Musk last week closed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, paying more than twice what its value was before his first interest was made public in April. He has since moved to reduce the company's oversight of user content, underscored by employee layoffs that began this morning and may affect about half of its 7,500 employees.

With less oversight, Twitter's social media platform could become a haven for malicious speech and disinformation, which would be unappealing for advertisers.

"None of this is surprising," said Matt Kucharski, president of Minneapolis-based public relations and communications firm Padilla. "Companies don't want to stake their reputations on someone else's behavior."

Musk earlier fired Twitter's senior executives, including those responsible for advertising relationships and content moderation.

Padilla's work includes media buying — placing ads for clients. Kucharski noted that companies have no shortage of options outside of Twitter for ad spending.

"There are a wide range of platforms that can destinations for a brand's advertising," said Kucharski.

Other advertisers that have publicly acknowledged taking a pause on Twitter include Pfizer, Mondelez International and Volkswagen AG. Last weekend General Motors announced plans to pause its advertising on Twitter.

Volkswagen and General Motors have other reasons to re-evaluate work with Twitter. Both are competitors of Musk's most valuable company, Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles.

Earlier this week Interpublic Group, one of the "Big Four" advertising agencies, advised its clients to pause spending on Twitter. Havas Media, another advertising firm that operates globally, did the same.