UK revenues at X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, fell by almost 60% in a year after advertisers cut spending amid concerns about content and brand safety.
The sharp decline comes as X restricted the image creation feature of its AI tool, Grok, for most users following widespread criticism over its use to generate sexually explicit and violent imagery.
According to the latest financial filings at Companies House, X’s UK revenues dropped by 58.3%, from £69.1m in 2023 to £28.9m in the year to 31 December 2024. Pre-tax profits also fell sharply, down from £2.2m to £767,000. That compares with pre-tax profits of £8.5m in 2022, the year Musk took over the platform, then known as Twitter.
In its accounts, X said, “The significant decrease in the performance of the company is a result of the decline of advertising revenue primarily driven by a reduction in spend from large brand advertisers due to concerns about brand safety, reputation and/or content moderation.”
The company added, “The business continues to take proactive measures to build brand safety tools, invest in platform safety and content moderation and then educate advertisers about these initiatives.”
Since Musk’s $44bn acquisition at the end of 2022, X’s commercial performance has deteriorated and the company has made deep cuts to its UK workforce. Total staff numbers fell by a third last year, from 114 to 76, compared with 399 employees at the time of the takeover. X said it had recognised more than £22m in redundancy costs in the UK since the acquisition.
Musk’s relationship with advertisers has been strained. In a 2023 onstage interview in New York, he told brands that had withdrawn advertising after he endorsed an antisemitic post to “go fuck yourself”.
He later launched legal action against several major companies, including Unilever, alleging they had unlawfully coordinated a “massive advertiser boycott”. Unilever was dropped from the lawsuit in 2024, but other firms, including Mars, Nestlé and Colgate-Palmolive, remain named.
Despite the ongoing challenges, X said in its filings that it had become the “platform of choice for world-changing conversations, events and breaking news, ranging from presidential elections, to the latest developments in AI, to international sports events”. It also claimed that “significant steps” had been taken to cut costs and improve financial performance since the takeover.
The Grok AI tool was restricted on Friday after reports that Musk faced the threat of fines, regulatory action and even a potential ban on X in the UK. The tool had been used to manipulate images of women, including removing clothing and placing them in sexualised scenarios.
X has now limited the image generation feature to paying users only. Those attempting to use it receive an automated message stating, “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers.”
