In recent weeks, the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has been facing pushback from key advertisers after ad campaigns appeared on accounts featuring white supremacist and neo-Nazi content. Now, it seems like the social media platform might have the opposite problem with inappropriate ads appearing on the profiles of prominent accounts.
On Wednesday afternoon, an advertisement appeared on the profile page of ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit promoting an AI tool that promises to “UNDRE SS any girl using AI.”
The ad was from X, an account with the handle @Marta7091910840. The account joined the platform in March of 2023 and only has 62 posts, most of which are reposts of photos of women in seductive poses.
This isn’t just on my timeline, either. I was on Kirk’s profile page.
Twitter literally allowed a DeepFake AI nude generator to advertise on the profile page of ESPN’s most prominent college football personality.
A verified account with 1.6 million followers. pic.twitter.com/xqCDa7Ilgm
— kevin harrish (@Kevinish) December 13, 2023
Herbstreit is one of the platform’s most prominent sports media personalities, boasting over 1.6 million followers and a massive reach in the college football community. The fact that an advertiser with 10 followers and 62 posts that has been active on the platform for less than a year was able to secure ad space for such an objectionable advertisement on Herbstreit’s profile highlights the concerns that brands have been expressing with the platform.
This comes after several prominent companies announced that they will be pausing their ad spending with the platform as a result of the white supremacist and neo-Nazi content. These companies included ESPN’s parent company, Disney – Herbstreit’s employer – with the company even pausing all posting on many of their brand accounts for an entire day last month.
During a recent appearance at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, X owner Elon Musk addressed the advertising boycott that the company was facing, telling those companies to “go f*** yourself” while seemingly referencing Disney CEO Bob Iger, who was also in attendance at the summit.
These sorts of advertisements now showing up on the profile page of one of ESPN’s most prominent personalities are unlikely to help an already tense situation between Musk and Disney.
