The Australian government spent approximately $3 million on Twitter/X advertisements during the first year after Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform, despite initial concerns over potential damage to brand reputation. Data obtained by Guardian Australia showed that $2.7 million was spent between November 2022 and November 2023. Despite an initial pause in ad spend in September 2022 due to brands’ advertisements appearing next to improper content, ad spending resumed after an evaluation of brand safety measures. The following year’s data, however, is being withheld until January 2026.

Professor Axel Bruns from the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology stated that the government’s decision to continue advertising on the platform may not have been effective given the issues with disinformation, abuse, and spam bots. The continued ad spend could be seen as an attempt at soft diplomacy with the Trump administration, but could also be considered a waste of resources given the reputation damage to advertising on the platform.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/09/australia-government-millions-advertising-on-x-twitter-elon-musk-ntwnfb