A senior executive at McDonald’s MCD would have claimed that Twitter CEO Elon MuskIt is program “freedom of expression” on Twitter “perpetuated racism”.
According to a leak E-mail string obtained by Semafor, McDonald’s executives, Colgate-Palmolive CL And Albertson AIT — all major advertisers on the social media platform — have raised concerns about Musk’s program.
“For many communities, his willingness to leverage success and personal financial resources to advance an agenda under the guise of free speech perpetuates racism, resulting in direct threats to their communities and the potential for compromise. brand safety that we should all be worried about,” Tariq Hassan, director of marketing and customer experience at McDonald’s, reportedly wrote in the email.
Vice President and General Manager of Customer Experience and Growth, Colgate-Palmolive Diana Haussling similarly wrote that she was “aware of Elon Musk’s harmful and often racist rhetoric,” according to Semafor.
“While I am a huge supporter of free speech and enterprise, we cannot ignore the impact of such hate speech. I especially cannot ignore it as a black woman” , she reportedly wrote.
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Kristi Argylanthe senior vice president of grocery giant Albertsons, also raised concerns, Semafor noted.
In response, Twitter’s global sales and marketing director Chris Riedy thanked the executives for their comments, according to Semafor.
“Twitter needs each of you, and your feedback is critical in shaping what the company can become. Elon will be in Miami for most of Tuesday and wants to hear from you,” he reportedly wrote.
“To that end, and to encourage as much healthy conversation as possible and to allow each of you to speak directly to him, how about getting this group together with Elon immediately after the session with Linda?” Riedy would have asked.
Musk is set to be interviewed April 18 at an advertising conference in Miami hosted by trade body MMA Global, where he will talk about Twitter advertisers. Last year, in a Twitter poll, he asked his followers whether advertisers should support “free speech” or “political correctness”. The poll received over 1.2 million votes, with the first option receiving 80.1% of them.
Advertisers currently provide 90% of Twitter’s revenue, and Musk said he wants the company to be the “most respected advertising platform in the world.”
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Photo: Thomas Falcon by flickr