X wants to keep suing advertisers, asks 5th Circuit to overrule district judge
X wants to keep suing advertisers, asks 5th Circuit to overrule district judge
X 坚持起诉广告商，请求第五巡回法院推翻地方法官裁决
Elon Musk’s X is trying to revive a lawsuit against advertisers it’s accusing of illegally boycotting the social media platform, despite previously reaching a settlement to end litigation against an ad-industry trade group. 埃隆·马斯克旗下的 X 公司正试图重启针对广告商的诉讼，指控这些广告商非法抵制该社交媒体平台。尽管此前 X 已与一家广告行业贸易组织达成和解并结束了相关诉讼，但其并未放弃对其他被告的追责。
“This case involves an unusually brazen group boycott,” X said in a filing yesterday. “That misconduct has drawn the attention of regulators and Congress. There is no valid reason that this effort by the direct victim to recover its massive economic losses from that boycott should not move forward.” “此案涉及一场极其猖獗的集体抵制，” X 在昨日提交的文件中表示，“这种不当行为已引起监管机构和国会的关注。作为直接受害者，我们为挽回因抵制而遭受的巨额经济损失所做的努力，没有任何理由不继续推进。”
X’s lawsuit was thrown out in March when US District Judge Jane Boyle in the Northern District of Texas ruled that advertisers did not commit any antitrust violation. Last week, Musk reached a settlement with the World Federation of Advertisers, the first defendant named in the lawsuit. But Musk’s lawsuit had other defendants: Mars, Incorporated; CVS Health; Nestle; Abbott Laboratories; Colgate-Palmolive; Lego; Pinterest; Tyson Foods; Shell; and Ørsted A/S. 今年 3 月，美国德克萨斯州北区地方法院法官简·博伊尔（Jane Boyle）裁定广告商未违反任何反垄断法，驳回了 X 的诉讼。上周，马斯克与诉讼中的首位被告——世界广告主联合会（World Federation of Advertisers）达成了和解。但该诉讼还涉及其他被告，包括玛氏公司（Mars, Incorporated）、CVS Health、雀巢（Nestle）、雅培（Abbott Laboratories）、高露洁（Colgate-Palmolive）、乐高（Lego）、Pinterest、泰森食品（Tyson Foods）、壳牌（Shell）以及 Ørsted A/S。
While X agreed to dismiss the World Federation of Advertisers from the case, it urged the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to revive the suit with respect to the other defendants. The boycott “injured X and competition in that market, allowing other social-media platforms to charge rates above truly competitive pricing,” the company said. “Especially in light of the power defendants wield within the market, their agreement to boycott X cannot be characterized as anything other than an unreasonable restraint on trade.” 虽然 X 同意将世界广告主联合会从案件中剔除，但它敦促美国第五巡回上诉法院重启针对其他被告的诉讼。该公司表示，这种抵制行为“损害了 X 以及该市场的竞争，使得其他社交媒体平台能够以高于真正竞争价格的费率收费。特别是考虑到被告在市场中拥有的权力，他们抵制 X 的协议只能被定性为对贸易的不合理限制。”
Judge: Losing to competitors is not antitrust injury
法官：输给竞争对手不构成反垄断损害
Boyle’s decision dismissing Musk’s lawsuit said the “only harm X has asserted is that its customers collectively chose X’s competitors over X.” Boyle, a George W. Bush appointee, cited a precedent that a loss from competition itself does not constitute an antitrust injury. “Therefore, although a group boycott is alleged, there is no antitrust violation here,” she wrote. 博伊尔在驳回马斯克诉讼的裁决中指出，“X 所主张的唯一损害是其客户集体选择了 X 的竞争对手而非 X。” 由乔治·W·布什任命的博伊尔引用先例称，因竞争本身导致的损失不构成反垄断损害。她写道：“因此，尽管指控中提到了集体抵制，但此处并不存在反垄断违规行为。”
Asking the 5th Circuit to reverse Boyle, X argued that advertisers colluded to boycott X, “eliminat[ing] the independent decision-making that would otherwise force each firm to weigh the competitive benefits of continuing to advertise on the platform, suppressing competitive rivalries and insulating the boycott from market forces. The group boycott targeting X thus distorts competition in multiple markets in clear contravention of the antitrust laws.” X 在请求第五巡回法院推翻博伊尔的裁决时辩称，广告商串通抵制 X，“消除了原本会迫使每家公司权衡在平台上继续投放广告的竞争利益的独立决策过程，压制了竞争，并使抵制行为免受市场力量的影响。针对 X 的集体抵制因此扭曲了多个市场的竞争，明显违反了反垄断法。”
X’s claims relate to the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), an initiative by the World Federation of Advertisers to define violent and obscene content and help advertisers create brand-safety guidelines. The ad industry shut down Garm after Musk filed the lawsuit in 2024, though law professors described X’s legal case as a weak one. X 的诉求与“全球负责任媒体联盟”（GARM）有关，这是世界广告主联合会发起的一项倡议，旨在定义暴力和淫秽内容，并帮助广告商制定品牌安全准则。在马斯克于 2024 年提起诉讼后，广告行业关闭了 GARM，尽管法学教授们认为 X 的法律诉讼理由薄弱。
X’s filing yesterday said that GARM “exercised collective power through its rules for membership. As a condition of joining GARM, members agree[d] to adopt GARM solutions to improve business operations.’ For GARM’s advertiser and advertising agency members, that meant agreeing to enforce the implementation of the Brand Safety Standards by the social-media platforms from which they purchased advertising.” X 昨日提交的文件称，GARM “通过其会员规则行使了集体权力。作为加入 GARM 的条件，成员同意采用 GARM 的解决方案来改善业务运营。对于 GARM 的广告商和广告代理商成员而言，这意味着同意强制要求他们购买广告的社交媒体平台执行‘品牌安全标准’。”
X’s big ad revenue drop
X 的广告收入大幅下滑
X, then called Twitter, suffered a large drop in advertising revenue after Musk bought the company in October 2022 and made major changes to content moderation. Advertisers stayed away, worried that ads would appear next to antisemitic posts, misinformation, and other objectionable content. 在马斯克于 2022 年 10 月收购该公司并对内容审核进行重大调整后，当时名为 Twitter 的 X 公司广告收入大幅下滑。广告商纷纷避而远之，担心广告会出现在反犹太言论、虚假信息和其他令人反感的内容旁边。
Specific numbers on X ad revenue were hard to come by the past few years because Musk took the company private when he bought Twitter. But X Corp. is now a subsidiary of SpaceX, which recently went public and must report earnings. SpaceX’s earnings report this week said the company made $367 million in advertising revenue in Q2 2026, down from $426 million in Q2 2025. For the first six months of 2026, ad revenue was $710 million, down from $870 million in the first six months of 2025. 过去几年，X 的具体广告收入数据很难获得，因为马斯克在收购 Twitter 时将其私有化了。但 X 公司现在是 SpaceX 的子公司，而 SpaceX 最近上市并必须报告收益。SpaceX 本周的财报显示，该公司 2026 年第二季度的广告收入为 3.67 亿美元，低于 2025 年第二季度的 4.26 亿美元。2026 年前六个月的广告收入为 7.1 亿美元，低于 2025 年同期的 8.7 亿美元。
Twitter reported much higher ad revenue before being bought by Musk. “X’s current quarterly ad revenue has dropped even more drastically compared to the last quarter before Musk bought the popular social-media platform,” MediaPost reported. “In the second quarter of 2022, Twitter reported $1.08 billion in ad revenue, roughly $713 million more than Q2 2026.” 在被马斯克收购之前，Twitter 的广告收入要高得多。据 MediaPost 报道：“与马斯克收购该热门社交媒体平台前的最后一个季度相比，X 目前的季度广告收入下降得更为剧烈。2022 年第二季度，Twitter 报告的广告收入为 10.8 亿美元，比 2026 年第二季度高出约 7.13 亿美元。”