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- Some X users say they’re seeing lots of ads for likely fake Louis Vuitton handbags on the platform.
- That’s despite an X policy that “prohibits” the sale of counterfeit goods.
- It comes after Elon Musk‘s profane outburst at the NYT DealBook summit Wednesday: “Don’t advertise.”
X’s ad strategy doesn’t seem to be going so great.
After Elon Musk told major advertisers to “go fuck yourself” and “don’t advertise” at The New York Times’ DealBook summit Wednesday, some X users saying they’re seeing lots of ads for Louis Vuitton bags that are probably fakes.
“X prohibits the sale of or promoting the sale of counterfeit goods on the platform,” according to its counterfeit policy.
But that hasn’t stopped scammers from peddling the fake designer bags on its platform.
“Why is my whole feed full of scammy bag ads???,” one X user questioned with a screenshot of some posts with the ad label. “I get so so so so many of this exact ad from different users,” said another user.
Granted that some of the ads appear to have been taken down, it looks like X is having to play whack-a-mole to remove dozens more popping up in its place. Users have been saying they’re seeing them since Wednesday.
“Twitter had resorted to letting people place ads for their fake Louis Vuitton bags. If one more of these god damn ads shows up on my feed I swear to god,” an X user posted Friday.
At least one account that posted an ad, seen by Business Insider, was restricted Wednesday, but by Friday it was reinstated.
It’s not a good look for X’s perceived trust and safety on the platform, nor will it help Musk retain or win back big-name advertisers. Ebiquity, which works with 70 of the world’s top 100 advertisers, said just two of them advertised on X in September.
Coincidentally, Taylor Fisher, head of fashion partnerships at X, shared a photo last month with X CEO Linda Yaccarino and Americas chief, Monique Pintarelli, along with the caption: “Spent my birthday with my role models at 𝕏 and the masterminds behind Louis Vuitton. @XFashion this is just the beginning.”
Is X promoting the sale of counterfeit designer handbags the beginning Fisher speaks of? I think not. So the luxury fashion house is probably none too pleased to see rip-offs on X.
According to a X business blog post, Louis Vuitton ran an ad campaign for its collaboration with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama in January, but it’s unclear if it’s an ad partner or big spender.
LVMH didn’t immediately respond to Business Insider’s questions on whether it was aware of the ads, or had taken any action.
X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.
