A term of recent coinage — “brand safety” — has emerged as a leading pressure technique to demonetize disfavored viewpoints. This new information-control technique is based on the idea that a brand’s reputation will be tarnished if its advertisements appear near disreputable content.
Under the argument that Elon Musk is transforming Twitter into a haven of racism, sexism, and conspiracy theories, advertising industry advisory groups are pushing advertisers to steer clear of the platform. The idea is to bleed away advertising revenue to send Musk a message.
Of course, in the era of targeted advertising and Google Ads, the idea of an advertisement being associated with the website on which it appears is doubtful. What Twitter user considers an advertisement to be related to the tweets on either side of it?
And who spends their time going to websites they don’t frequent or investigating TV channels they never watch to see what sorts of ads other people are viewing?
