Shillong, October 8: Elon Musk’s X Corp has introduced a novel approach to advertising that has left users perplexed and irritated. Reports suggest that X users are now encountering “unlabeled ads” in their feeds, and there’s no option to block or report them.
As per IANS, these ads, when clicked, redirect users to third-party websites without any means of blocking or reporting them. Notably, these new ads don’t disclose the identity of the advertiser or that they are indeed advertisements.
Several X users have reached out to Mashable in recent days, expressing their surprise at this new ad format in their For You feed.
Furthermore, these ads do not allow users to like or retweet them, and the advertiser remains undisclosed. The content promoted in these ads appears to align with spammy and low-quality “chumbox” advertising, as highlighted in the report.
These X ads are now appearing on the X mobile apps as part of the platform’s efforts to address declining ad revenue through partnerships with third-party advertisers.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino recently stated that the company aims to achieve profitability by early 2024, revealing expectations of 200-250 million daily active users. Yaccarino noted that 90 percent of the top 100 advertisers have returned to the platform in the last 12 weeks, with approximately 1,500 advertisers making a comeback.
Despite 13 years in operation, X has not yet announced an annual profit and has faced challenges in maintaining profitability.
