Watchdog files complaint against Elon Musk’s X for running ‘hundreds of unlabelled ads’

‘Not marking ads is no small thing,’ non-profit Check My Ads says

A US watchdog has filed a compliant against Elon Musk’s X – previously Twitter – calling for an investigation over the platform’s advertising practices, including the alleged non-disclosure of some posts as ads.

The non-profit organisation Check My Ads filed the complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission about the lack of labeling of some posts as ads, arguing that such content on the platform could mislead users.

“This misrepresentation tricks users into trusting content as organic and exacerbates the opportunity for scams to occur,” the complaint noted.

“Furthermore, by failing to adequately disclose advertisements, X Corp. misrepresents the methods employed to target users or facilitate third-party ad targeting,” it said.

After initially spotting instances of adverts on X not being labelled, the watchdog called out users on the microblogging platform in September to flag more such instances they spot.

In the following weeks, it gatherd information on “hundreds of unlabelled ads” from several users to build a case to the FTC, demanding X to be investigated.

“Not marking ads is no small thing. As the complaint points out, unlabeled ads could trick users into thinking content is organic, increasing the chance for scams,” Check My Ads explained in a blog post.

With unlabelled ads on social media platforms, people also have no way to know they are being targetted.

While X is set up to explain why any user is seeing a particular ad with a hyperlink, the watchdog found that these links are “frequently broken”.

“X Corp.’s lack of disclosures to consumers, misrepresentations to advertisers, and flawed access to explanations about targeted advertising constitute unfair and deceptive practices,“ Check My Ads’ policy director Sarah Kay Wiley said.

“We urge the Commission to determine the extent of these violations and address them to the full extent of its authority,” Ms Wiley said.

X did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.

The complaint comes as X countinues different approaches, including new paid for services, to shore up more revenue, which is down 60 per cent since Mr Musk took over the company.

While once advert posts had the word “promoted” below them, they now are seen with a smaller “ad” label, which do not seem to appear on some posts as the complaint mentions.

Users have also complained on the platform that they are sometimes even unable to block or report some unlabeled ads.