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GM Puts Temporary Hold On Twitter Advertising In Wake Of Musk Buyout

GM has suspended its advertising efforts on Twitter in the wake of Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media platform.

The automaker says that it will evaluate Twitter’s direction moving forward to determine the best way to utilize the platform for advertising purposes.

“We are engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership. As is normal course of business with a significant change in a media platform, we have temporarily paused our paid advertising. Our customer care interactions on Twitter will continue,” GM told CNBC in an emailed statement.

Musk, who also owns Tesla Motors, a vigorous and fierce rival to GM in the electric vehicle sector, is a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” and promised to make major changes to the social media platform. Indeed, he has made good on that promise thus far, firing several top executives at Twitter after finalizing the $44 billion buyout. However, Musk has stated that he has no interest in creating a “free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences.”

Meanwhile, GM’s crosstown rival, Ford Motor Company, has not had paid advertising on Twitter for quite some time, although The Blue Oval said that it would also evaluate Twitter’s trajectory under Musk’s leadership.

While the rivalry between Musk’s Tesla and GM is currently rather tight, a recent study predicts that GM will have more market share than Tesla by 2025. GM plans to launch 30 new EVs by that same year. This includes the Chevy Silverado EV, which will enter production next spring, charging onto the electric pickup scene and potentially directing customers interested in purchasing an electric pickup away from Tesla. Additionally, the Chevy Blazer EV is also on the horizon, poised to make even more of a dent in Tesla’s market share, while the Sierra EV made its big debut earlier this month.

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Alexandra is a Colorado-based journalist with a passion for all things involving horsepower, be it automotive or equestrian.

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Comments

  1. So GM , Is it the first amendment you are against or Elon . Stop it GM and the rest of Corporate America. You were okay with Tweeter’s past policies but now that it might be open . Now you have a problem? You need to walk that one back and clean up your culture. I may have purchased my last GM vehicle. I just closed my PayPal account because of their “wokeness”. I may do the same with GM.

    Reply
    1. My exact thoughts. I concur–the power we have to show our disagreement with a company’s direction and policy is to spend my dollars elsewhere. Walk it back GM–your bottom line will improve. Otherwise, deal with your shrinking bottom line and get your government ESG subsidies.

      Reply
    2. We can not have a deep severe 2008 style global recession soon enough to give corporate America a serious reality slap.
      Go woke and go broke in bankruptcy liquidation.

      Reply
    3. The Supreme Court said $$=free speech. GM is exercising their free speech by removing ad $$ from a platform that might not represent their desired public image. And you are of course free to exercise your wallet by not supporting GM, if you disagree with them wanting to respect all people.

      Reply
    4. You do realize that Elon Musk initially made his fortune as a cofounder of PayPal…

      Reply
  2. Well, “there -ya-go!” Mary-WOKE-GM is at it again. I live in NY where Kathy Hochul is the bain of NY and now on a daily basis I’m reminded that Mary is the bain of the company I have always supported. Going to just say this and take my heat, I don’t care. I long for the the days when male engineers ran companies and generally speaking the direction of a company was at least understood. All this female leadership equity garbage started with Xerox when they put Ursula Burns in as head and that was literally the beginning of the end for them. Honestly, I can’t think of a great fortune 500 company where having a woman at the helm made any difference. I do not like this direction, I do not like this news.

    Reply
    1. It’s been many years since Bob Stemple an engineer ran GM. In all those years since bean counters have ran the corporation and it has been going downhill since. That was when all the cars started looking alike. Roger B Smith even bragged that a left front fender from a Chevrolet would replace the right rear fender of a Cadillac. The only difference was the trim. That’s how Oldsmobile got in so much trouble over advertising the Chevy 350 V8 as the Rocket 88 engine of the past. Cars of today have no character and they all look alike from A to Z.

      Reply
      1. Bob Mary is a Automotive Engineer not an accountant. Same for Mark Russ

        Reply
    2. Bwahahahaha! While it’s fun to call out GM’s virtue signaling, there’s also this: Twitter is now owned by the CEO of Tesla, the premier EV builder in the world. I think that’s the underlying story here. When GM’s ev products get better, she may want to rethink this.

      Reply
      1. Yes, GM probably only has 1 more sale to make to me and I’m done, but I get not advertising on what they perceive as their future competitor. Tesla.

        Reply
        1. We all know this had nothing to do with working with a competitor. Face it, there are no “competitors” in the auto industry anymore. GM and Ford jointly developed the 10 speed auto that goes into many Ford and GM products. GM has had joint ventures with Toyota in the past, and they’re currently working with Honda to develop an electric CUV. They also recently had a failed partnership with truck maker Nikola. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that GM currently buys or sells parts to Tesla, or has some other kind of working relationship with them.

          Besides, Tesla didn’t purchase Twitter, Musk did. While Musk will certainly be involved with both companies, they’re currently two separate entities, operated separately, and traded separately on the NY Stock Exchange. This is all about Mary keeping her woke friends happy.

          Reply
  3. GM still, and probably for a long time, will outsell Tesla. Are they afraid of a little competition on the platform. This whole EV thing has gotten out of hand. It will be decades before the infrastructure catches up with the EV craze. And even then then, there will still be millions of ICE cars on the road.

    Reply
  4. I am putting a temporary hold on my interest of ordering a 2024 3500 HD, until this gets hashed out.

    Reply
    1. Nicely put. Ditto for me. I’ve owned 8 Buicks over the years with 2 currently in my garage. These actions cause me to rethink my position. One Buick is a 1965 Riviera GS that does not look like every other car on the road.

      Reply
      1. Bill Mitchell and HArley Earl and spinning in their graves right now with Automobile styling….

        Reply
        1. At least gm knows the right pronouns to use!

          Reply
  5. Im following gm as well. Holding my money and not buying a gm product.

    No way will I give to woke companies that want to stop freedom of speech to be in bidens pockets.

    gm making huge political mistake….

    Reply
    1. I also agree with not giving my $$ to a woke company when there is a choice. I bought 9 new GM’s over the years, and my PLANNED purchase of A $100K+ 2024 3500HD Denali dually just got CANCELED!!

      Reply
  6. Woke Mary at her best. GM wake the F up!

    Reply
    1. I could not say it better. LOL

      Reply
  7. Grow up GM. More conservatives/mods buying your pickups/SUVs than libs

    Reply
  8. Go woke, go broke!

    Reply
    1. Seems to be working for GM as they keep reporting record profits.

      Reply
      1. Then continue buying and supporting gm. Nobody is stopping you. The rest of us will continue with other options.

        Reply
      2. Stop bringing logic to the equation.
        This is about a woman holding power position, or whatever “tin-foil-hat” wearing rhetoric to make it look like a terrible decision.

        Reply
  9. Makes sense to me.

    Why would GM want to give its money to its competitor?

    Reply
  10. Bwahahahaha! While it’s fun to call out GM’s virtue signaling, there’s also this: Twitter is now owned by the CEO of Tesla, the premier EV builder in the world. I think that’s the underlying story here. When GM’s ev products get better, she may want to rethink this.

    Reply
  11. Libtard Mary showing her colors👎. She sucks

    Reply
  12. Thats the final straw. Will buy non gm vehicle.

    Reply
  13. Bs, stop this woke crap. Might make me move to Ford for the next vehicle unless this stops

    Reply
    1. Ford’s not much better….

      Reply
  14. What a crock! It’s ok for Twitter to cut off President Trump and to cover up Hunters laptop from Hell, and to condone election fraud, but you can’t take it that free speech for everyone even conservatives is now available on Twitter. I have never been on Twitter, I may now since a decent and fair man owns it. Who knows, he may buy Government Motors, and out you go Mary, which by the way, what did you do to get that position, pretty sure we all know how you got it.
    Speaking of President Trump, when are you going to redesign that ugly , and I do mean ugly limousine. It’s a disgrace for Americans to see that ugly car/suv , as the world also sees it. It’s ok for what ever that is in office now and the predecessor before President Trump., but not for President Trump. I am not a fan of Russia, but there limousine is beautiful. I agree with the other posts, GM is producing some of the ugliest cars, looks more like cars from China, which I suppose Miss Mary answers to them. Produce reliable and attractive vehicles, and stay out of politics!

    Reply
  15. So gm is now a woke company?Are they afraid of the first amendment free speech or are they worried about the liberal left bad mouthing the company.This is why gm needs new leadership and stop the left from dictating electronic media telling them what to say and do,referring to all electric vehicles by 2035.Ask your customers what they want instead of the woke ideas of climate change.

    Reply
  16. As an ex GM employee this is disgusting. Who are you decide what’s free speech and what isn’t.
    So much for my next GM vehicle ever again.
    Considering all the BS that flows out of an dealership when purchasing a car you should look in the mirror first regarding general business practices.
    What a joke.

    Reply
    1. Twitter is privately owned, it’s not the government. They can decide what to include or not. And companies and individuals are free to exercise their free speech by removing ad $$ from a platform that doesn’t represent their values.

      Reply
      1. Strange, Rev. gm was perfectly fine when Twitter was heavily censoring countless people for countless reasons…some worthy, some ridiculous.

        Care to address how that looks on a company advertising on Twitter then?

        Reply
  17. GM does not want to enrich Musk since he is GM’s nemesis. Also Mary considers Musk the enemy along with Trump. Musk and Trump are buds. Mary and Brandon are tight. It’s all about keeping things wired and maintaining Brandon on the throne during the next cycle. It’s a huge game in play and Musk and Trump are rocking the status quo. The General does not like this. Musk and Trump have rocked the status quo to be productive and innovative. Both Musk and Trump drive for productive achievement like Steve Jobs, RIP.

    Reply
  18. Mary is just a sock puppet of the Wall Street masters that control the majority of the stock!
    Wall Street gets its money from these large pension groups that are funded by every day Joe at his job! Joe has limited choices on what happens with his money. Until Joe can control his money there’s a little hope of any big changes happening😿

    Reply
  19. You know there is this click that is alive, well and thriving that consists of librral political counterculture activists that embrace Brandon and his team, drive Prius’s, shop at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, despise red meat, eat organics, promote open borders, hate fossil fuels, rally for electric cars, curse anybody with a counter idea or thought to theirs, drink bottled water, cry about climate change, love Bernie, vote Democratic, love states with geographic attractions – Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, New England and favor abortion, rec drugs, etc. If you have these interests your in the hip, in vogue crowd and find acceptance. You are unfortunately being suckered.
    Mary Bara and her team are being sucked into this populist la la land vacuum. That’s why she put the nix on GM advertising with Musk’s Twitter. Musk is considered an outlayer in the Silicon Valley, Washington DC rat pack crowd.

    Reply
    1. Correction: sorry :-

      Musk is considered an OUTLIER in the Silicon Valley, Washington DC rat pack crowd.

      Reply
  20. I’m only interested in one more GM vehicle, then after that I’m probably flipping GM for other manufacturers unless they fix thier issues. This woke/virtue B.S has gotten way out of hand.

    Reply
  21. 30 new EV’s by 2025? I’m calling BS on that Mary. I’ve been waiting 10 months for heated seat chips for my 2022 GM vehicle. And now GM is building 2023 vehicles with heated seats without taking care of customers with 2022 vehicles first. WTF Mary? Is this the way you treat current customers that already purchased a 2022 vehicle?

    Reply
  22. When I click on a thumbs up tally on a comment criticizing GM’s anti-free speech decision, the dozens of thumbs up tallies revert to zero. Why is that?

    Reply
    1. Happens to every comment I up/down vote on. It’s a glitchy broken system.

      Don’t attribute to conspiracy that which can be explained by incompetence.

      Reply
  23. So, is GM protesting Twitter’s move towards freedom of speech or are they protesting Musk’s ownership of Tesla? Hopefully it’s the latter.

    Reply
    1. It’s GM exercising their free speech by removing ad $$ from a platform 1.) run by a competitor’s CEO, and 2.) probably about to become even more a cesspool of lies and misinformation, which allows hateful messages without ramifications, which may not reflect the public image they want to convey.

      Reply
  24. Mary better explain, is the pause due to Elon’s ownership of Tesla or Twitter’s move toward freedom of speech?

    Reply
  25. GM needs new leadership!

    Reply
    1. Why? They’ve been making record profits under current leadership.

      Reply
      1. Because they are not serving their customers

        Reply
      2. There is more to a company surviving than making temporary record profits. Why can’t they make money and also give customers more choices and better made products with better styling, more interior color choices and better options? The simple fact is that after 2024 GM will not have a single vehicle I will be interested in so will defect to another company that does make something I want. If that trend continues and GM keeps losing more and more market share those profits you speak of will also dry up.

        Reply
      3. GM was making record profits under Roger Smith as well- for a while. Ee seen hiw that all turned out…

        Reply
  26. So many ironic hater comments. Your conservative Supreme Court said $$=Free Speech, and GM is using its Free Speech by removing ad $$ from a platform that might not reflect the image they want to have.

    Pretty f’ing hypocritical for y’all “free speech” absolutists to hate on GM for exercising their free speech.

    Reply
    1. But gm was nice and quiet with the gobs of ridiculous censoring going on there? Not to mention tons of other garbage on Twitter. Utter hypocrisy on full display.

      By the way, gm is fully allowed to pull their advertising, and, as a long-time GM guy, I’m fully allowed to drive my F-150 (now on my second one).

      Reply
  27. Thank you GM for suspending your advertising on Twitter–right-winger Musk already tweeted out a conspiracy theory from a known-fake news website on Sunday before deleting it—-don’t reward Musk with advertising.

    Reply
    1. See, it works! Whatever he posted was discerned by you and you concluded it was fake news. No skin off your back, and you’re not agreeing with it.

      THAT is the beauty of free speech and free thought. Get it?

      Reply
  28. OMG! Elon will let anyone post to Twitter. He must be punished!

    Reply
    1. Let’s see how long that lasts when all the EV haters and Tesla FUDsters and liars start in on him. That’s the real reason he wanted Twitter, so he can use it as an advertising platform for Tesla and squash competitors. Probably will use their AI tech to promote Tesla EVs over anything else.

      Reply
      1. As Twitter’s new owner, that’s his business, and not yours.

        Reply
  29. 83 years old and a GM supporter almost from birth (my dad went back 30 years before me)….. but my few shares and my loyalty to GM is about to be flushed down the toilet Mary Bara should be run out of Detroit on a rail, maybe tarred and feathered. Bring back car people to head the General, get rid of this Woke crap.

    Reply
  30. As a long time GM owner, I supported the government bailout of GM in 2008 for one reason. They played a huge roll in World War 2 defense work. In 1942 my Dad worked at the GM assembly plant in Linden ,NJ. The plant converted to aircraft production ( Grumman Hellcat) from autos. Dad was a supervisor of welding.
    THAT was the GM I respected.
    Fast forward today, the last GM car we bought was our son’s 2011 Camaro. I refuse to support them any longer and this latest Twitter pause gives me reason to be glad.

    Reply
    1. Agreed, GM’s role during WW2 was a overwhelmingly immense proving a massive production base for the arsenal of democracy. Also their prewar and postwar automobiles were objects of desire, until they started to mess with the model by overreacting to the Arab oil crises, cheapening out on engineering build quality while not reaching out to the UAW in a series of consultations that things can’t continue as it is. This move is absolutely atrocious.

      Reply
  31. Was waiting on this thread to start and missed it. What GM has done is atrocious and stinks of bias. They come with the lamest excuse that Twitter is now owned by their Tesla rival and will limit their advertisements on the platform. This smacks of political victimization and third world partisan behavior. GM is asking for trouble if they don’t reconsider this plainly stupid move.

    Reply
  32. GM, with the current corporate slogan “everybody in.” doesn’t like Twitter now that everybody is allowed in. You just can’t make this stuff up! No more GM for me. My current one is my 6th and last,

    Reply
  33. This is what you get when politics, virtue signalling, and a hard focus on diversity replaces building quality, affordable cars. Seems like gm has forgotten that.

    Not a good strategy no matter how much you libs polish it.

    Reply
  34. “Everybody in” unless of course if you don’t agree with us. Then you need to be canceled and silenced. This is just more double standard hypocrisy from the lefties. They are aloud to send out false misinformation but not anybody on the right. They are allowed to say what they want but not you. Their information is automatically correct but not yours. It’s really sickening the direction things have gone the past 5-6 years.

    Reply
  35. Here is what I expect. The globalist and far left are going to hammer Musk for all it is worth. Anyone near him or involved wit Twitter will face their wrath.

    Companies and publicly held companies can receive major damage in the media and on Wall St. they can not get away with the I don’t care talk as they will receive a very organized attack that could bring a large company down.

    I believe GM is just getting out of the way as they could be collateral damage from this till it settles down.

    Musk may come out as a hero but he will pay a large price. It is his money so it is easy for him to play those cards.

    Reply
    1. GM was okay with the biased, garbage, narrative controlling Twitter ,but not an open free speech version. Speaks volumes about the company.

      Reply
      1. Bingo.

        Reply
  36. If you have a GM Replace the emblem with a twitter bird logo.

    Reply
  37. I will be reevaluating any future purchase with GM. Go woke, go broke.

    Reply
  38. Well, well, well, GM is afraid of free speech. Sounds of wokeness to me. So very tired of this nonsense. I have had 62 GM car/truck products over my lifetime. Was hesitant to purchase a Toyota, but this just pushed me over the edge.

    Reply
    1. Same here, Tom. My family and I have easily had over 50 GM products over the years.

      The real catch here: I’ve put 3 of my 4 kids in Fords, my wife in a new 2018 Escape, and I’m now on my 2nd F-150.

      That’s 6 Fords that replaced GMs just in my immediate family of 6 drivers.

      Reply
  39. So GM was ok when they silenced conservative voices only allowing one way of speech to be spoken? That’s what twitter was prior.
    Now that it’s a neutral platform we have a problem?

    Reply
    1. Yep, Mary’s hypocrisy here is stunning.
      The pre-Musk cesspool was acceptable, but opening up Twitter to more conservatives and opposing viewpoints is a problem.

      The best thing about Twitter is that it has beautifully exposed the left’s insane bias and ugly desire to control others.

      Reply

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