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WICHITA FALLS, Tex. (AP) \u2014 Elon Musk\u2019s social media platform X<\/a> has sued a group of\u00a0advertisers<\/a>, alleging that a \u201cmassive advertiser boycott\u201d deprived the company of billions of dollars in revenue and violated antitrust laws.<\/p>\n The company formerly known as Twitter filed the lawsuit Tuesday in a federal court in Texas against the World Federation of Advertisers and member companies Unilever<\/a>, Mars, CVS Health<\/a> and Orsted<\/a>.<\/p>\n It accused the advertising group\u2019s initiative, called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, of helping to coordinate a pause in advertising after Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and\u00a0overhauled its staff and policies.<\/a><\/p>\n Musk posted about the lawsuit on X on Tuesday, saying \u201cnow it is war\u201d after two years of being nice and \u201cgetting nothing but empty words.\u201d<\/p>\n X CEO Linda Yaccarino said in a video announcement that the lawsuit stemmed in part from evidence uncovered by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee which she said showed a \u201cgroup of companies organized a systematic illegal boycott\u201d against X.<\/p>\n The Republican-led committee had a hearing last month looking at whether current laws are \u201csufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion in online advertising.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuit\u2019s allegations center on the early days of Musk\u2019s Twitter takeover and not a more recent dispute with advertisers that came a year later.<\/p>\n In November 2023, about a year after Musk bought the company, a number of advertisers began fleeing X over concerns about their ads showing up next to pro-Nazi content and hate speech on the site in general, with Musk inflaming tensions with his own posts endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory.<\/p>\n Musk later said those fleeing advertisers were engaging in \u201cblackmail\u201d and, using a profanity, essentially told them to go away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nRecommended Newsletter:<\/strong> The Fortune Next to Lead newsletter is a must-read for the next generation of C-suite leaders. Every Monday, the newsletter provides the strategies, resources, and expert insight needed to claim the most coveted positions in business. Subscribe now<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n