It’s only been a week since Elon Musk took over Twitter and removed top executives in the process. Musk acquired the social media platform this year and of course, the auto companies that are also on Twitter have reacted to the move.
The Volkswagen Group is the latest auto company to take the step after Tesla’s CEO took over Twitter, telling its brand to stop advertising on the platform, according to Reuters.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and will decide on the next steps depending on the developments,” Volkswagen said in a statement Reuters.
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Audi of America, a unit of Audi, a VW Group brand, said it had temporarily suspended its paid advertising on Twitter the day before VW Group’s statement. Reuters reports that Audi of America will “continue to evaluate the situation.”
To date, the brands under the Volkswagen Group are Volkswagen (passenger cars), Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, koda, SEAT, Cupra, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Porsche and Ducati. The VW group also has several subsidiaries, such as Bugatti-Rimac, but we doubt the automaker will enforce a temporary suspension of Twitter advertising on those companies.
A few days after Musk became “Chief Twit,” General Motors also announced that it was temporarily suspending its paid Twitter ads while evaluating the direction the platform was taking under new management. However, the company’s interactions with its customers on Twitter will continue.
Ford, on the other hand, confirmed that they had stopped advertising on Twitter even before Musk’s takeover. Fisker, on the other hand, made a tougher move, with the owner and CEO deleting his Twitter account soon after news of Musk and Twitter first surfaced in April this year. Citroën aired its reaction to the Musk-Twitter fiasco via a one-line tweet.
