Americans should not count on big business to support Americans values. Businesses that stopped advertising on Twitter demonstrate that they don’t believe in the First Amendment.
Ask yourself the following question. What’s worse: (i) child sexual exploitation and the promotion of violence; or (ii) asking whether COVID came from a lab? The vast majority of Americans would say of course violence and sexual exploitation are horrible things. And a majority of Americans—72 percent according to this poll—believe that COVID came from a lab. So in the minds of most of the public (i) is far worse then (ii).
Child porn was rife on old Twitter. Elon Musk is purging child porn from the site.
So were calls for violence from Antifa and far left groups. That was OK on the old Twitter.
Corporate America was perfectly copacetic with the above.
Now comes along Elon Musk and the new Twitter.
Elon believes in free speech. On the new Twitter, you can debate things like whether COVID had natural origins or came from a lab. You can debate whether the lockdowns were worth it. You can also discuss …. (deep breath) … the contents of the Hunter Biden laptop.
You’d think that corporate CEOs would be delighted with new Twitter. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong.
The possibility that Americans may now have a platform to discuss important issues without fear of censorship caused corporate America to have a meltdown.
Below is a list of companies that have stopped or paused advertising on Twitter.
The number of Twitter users has soared since Elon Musk took over. Clearly there’s no business reason for these corporate actions.
So it must be that these companies are more comfortable with the old Twitter than the pro-free speech new Twitter.
As Christmas is right around the corner, I’ve highlighted those companies that are in the consumer products sector.
Abbott Laboratories, Allstate Corporation, AMC Networks (movie theatres), American Express Company, AT&T, Big Heart Petcare, BlackRock, BlueTriton Brands, Boston Beer Company, California State Lottery, CenturyLink (internet), Chanel (cosmetics), Chevrolet, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Citigroup, CNN, Dell, Diageo (Black Label Scotch), DirecTV, Discover Financial Services, Fidelity, First National Realty Partners, Ford, Heineken N.V., Hewlett-Packard (HP), Hilton Worldwide, Inspire Brands (Dunkin donuts, Arby’s), Jeep (Chrysler), Kellogg Company, Kohl’s Department Stores, Kyndryl, LinkedIn Corporation, MailChimp (The Rocket Science Group), Marriott International, Mars Petcare, Mars (Candy), Merck & Co., Meta Platforms (Facebook), MoneyWise (Wise Publishing, Inc.), Nestle, Novartis AG, Pernod Ricard, PlayPass, The Coca-Cola Company, The Kraft Heinz Company, Tire Rack, Verizon, Wells Fargo, Whole Foods Market IP, Yum! Brands (Taco Bell, KFC).
Most disappointing are the automakers. Ford, Chevrolet (General Motors) Jeep (Chrysler/Stellantis) are all on the list.
General Motors was the first automaker to jump and it still hasn’t returned to Twitter.
Automakers always wrap themselves in the American flag to sell their products.
Yet these automakers don’t stand for American values like free speech and free expression.
If these companies don’t support American values, who needs them?
You don’t see Japanese or Korean companies on the list, do you?
If big companies don’t have it in their heart or head to support free speech do they deserve your dollars? Of course not.
The Christmas shopping season is upon us. Let’s send these corporate hypocrites a message and tell then “hell no, we are not buying your products.” Rather, we’re only opening our wallets to companies that believe in free speech and freedom.