• An advertiser and one of Musk’s Tesla competitors has paused advertising on the social media giant 
  • General Motors, which competes with Musk’s car company, announced it has ‘temporarily paused’ it’s paid advertising on Twitter 
  • However, the company said in a statement that they will continue to interact with Twitter’s customer care service
  • Spokesman David Barnes said: ‘We are engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership’
  • Two ad execs said their clients had indicated they might stop doing business with Twitter if former President Donald Trump were allowed back on the site 

Elon Musk has already had a volatile effect after taking control of Twitter, and at least one advertiser – one of Musk’s Tesla competitors – has paused advertising on the social media giant to take stock of the situation.

General Motors, which competes with Musk’s car company, announced it has ‘temporarily paused’ it’s paid advertising on Twitter.

However, the company said in a statement that they will continue to interact with Twitter’s customer care service.

Spokesman David Barnes said, ‘We are engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership.’

GM might not be alone, as two ad execs told the New York Times Friday that their clients had indicated they might stop doing business with Twitter if former President Donald Trump were allowed back on the site.

Trump had his personal and professional accounts banned from Twitter after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

The chief data and technology officer of IPG – one of the ‘big four’ ad agencies – Arun Kumar said their clients aren’t quite sure what to make of Musk’s purchase of Twitter, suggesting he might be a wild card no matter what he does.

He said: ‘The attitude is more or less just wait and watch. Advertisers still share the same concerns around content moderation that existed before, and, given the economic environment right now, any missteps and there will be quick reactions.’

Musk has not yet commented but said in a tweet Friday that ‘Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.

This comes after multiple Twitter users have posted that they’ve been losing followers since the $44 billion takeover was completed on Thursday.

It’s possible people are losing Twitter followers – described as ‘The Great Purge’ by one user – because users are deactivating their accounts in protest at Musk’s purchase.

Another possibility is that Musk has already got to work at reducing the number of bots on the platform, said to make up five per cent of all user accounts.

MailOnline has contacted Twitter for further information on why users’ follower numbers are dropping.