Elon Musk's X advertising boycott lawsuit dismissed by US judge

A US judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Elon Musk's X which accused a group of advertisers and major companies of illegally boycotting his platform. Its parent company X Corp alleged in 2024 that firms including food giants Unilever and Mars, renewable energy firm Orsted and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) had conspired to deprive it of "billions of dollars" in advertising revenue. But in Thursday's ruling, US District Judge Jane Boyle said the company had failed to show it had suffered any harm under federal competition laws. X Corp's lawsuit, filed in a Texas court in 2024, came after the platform saw a decline in advertising revenue following Musk's acquisition of Twitter in 2022. The tech billionaire had ushered in sweeping changes to the platform after purchasing it, including reinstating the accounts of controversial figures and lifting some content restrictions. Within a year of Musk acquiring X, advertising revenue had fallen by more than half as some firms paused or reduced their promotions on the site. The lawsuit claimed the group of advertisers had acted against their own economic self-interest to conspire against the platform - saying this violated US antitrust