- Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and appointed Elon Musk to run a cost-cutting body, the Tesla CEO’s potential conflicts of interest have been questioned. Now, senators want the Department of Justice to look into whether X is using its owner’s influential position to pressure advertisers to come back and spend more.
Elon Musk has pull. He heads the non-Cabinet cost-cutting body the Department of Government Efficiency, and appears to have a close relationship with the President. The world’s richest man owns and runs a number of companies too. X is one of them.
Once upon a time, advertisers were fleeing the social media company. Internal documents reviewed by the New York Times back in 2023 revealed companies such as Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft had considered pausing or halted their ads on X. This was when Musk endorsed an anti-Semitic post, but some were already pulling back after his $44 billion Twitter takeover in fear of looser content moderation. However, earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon jacked up its ad spending on X—and Apple, which previously stopped all ad spending on X, is in discussions to come back.
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi viewed by WSJ, five Democratic senators asked the Justice Department to look into whether Musk is using his insider status within the Trump administration to pressure advertisers back to X. President Donald Trump chose Bondi after his initial pick, Matt Gaetz, dropped out amid sex trafficking allegations that he denied.
If Musk uses his position to hurt those who don’t do business with him, “he risks running afoul of criminal ethics laws,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal, Adam Schiff, and Chris Van Hollen wrote, per the Journal. The senators said they’re concerned X is using Musk’s influential role to “extract revenue from advertisers,” the Journal reported.
X and the department that became DOGE did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
This comes less than a month after the WSJ reported X pressured advertising company Interpublic Group to spend more on its platform in a conversation between attorneys for both parties, according to people with knowledge of the conversation. X chief executive Linda Yaccarino appeared to have made similar remarks in other conversations with Interpublic, the publication reported, citing people with knowledge of those talks.
Interpublic executives reportedly interpreted the messaging from X as a threat to its pending $13 billion merger with Omnicom Group because of Musk’s ties to the Trump administration, per the Journal. Interpublic signed a new annual deal with X for potential client spending, people familiar told the outlet.
Musk’s potential conflicts of interest have taken center stage since Trump’s return to the White House. But it is Musk who decides when one exists and when to remove himself.
