Democracy Dies in Darkness

As advertisers flee Musk’s X, Democrats splurge on political ads

Democratic candidates, including Musk’s most vocal critics, have spent over a million dollars to run thousands of political ads on X

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December 11, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EST
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), one of Elon Musk’s most outspoken critics, is among the Democratic lawmakers who have spent more than $74,000 each this year on political ads on X, formerly Twitter. (Haiyun Jiang for The Washington Post)
8 min

Advertisers are fleeing Elon Musk’s X amid rising concerns that the social media site and its owner are amplifying antisemitic and hateful material.

But an unlikely group of holdouts has continued to pump ad dollars into the embattled platform: Democrats running for office.

Democrats have spent over a million dollars to run thousands of political ads on X, formerly known as Twitter, since the platform lifted its ban on such messages earlier this year under Musk, according to an analysis by The Washington Post of ad disclosure data provided by the company. The group includes some of Musk’s most outspoken critics on the left, such as Reps. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) and Daniel S. Goldman (D-N.Y.), who last month accused X of “profiting off” of “terrorist propaganda.”