The Washington Post has decided to pause its advertising on X, a spokesperson tells Washingtonian.
The decision follows owner Elon Musk’s bizarre embrace of the utterly debunked “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory on Tuesday. It’s not really worth going into the mechanics of what led one of the world’s richest people down the same dumb rabbit hole that caused Edgar Maddison Welch to enter Comet Ping Pong in Northwest DC with a gun almost seven years ago today. But it’s of a piece with Musk’s recent praise for an antisemitic conspiracy theory that has reportedly cost X, formerly known as Twitter, more than $75 million in revenue and caused some media companies to distance themselves from the platform altogether.
The spokesperson wasn’t able to confirm how much the Post spent advertising on Twitter/X but said the decision is effective this week and that its ads should stop running on Musk’s platform soon. Twitter did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
