Balenciaga is first big fashion name to quit Twitter

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 15, 2022

Kering’s Balenciaga label has officially quit Twitter following the platform’s sale to the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. The high-profile luxury brand confirmed the move, but hasn’t said why, although it’s joining an exodus from the platform that has been taking place in recent months and weeks. However, it's the first big fashion name to leave.

Twitter has been making headlines this year as Elon Musk made a bid for it, then tried to get out of the deal, but eventually took it over in late October at a price of $44 billion.

His arrival kicked off major change and a number of users have become concerned about the direction that Twitter is taking.

Apart from slashing jobs — adding up to half of the workforce — and removing much of the management team, Musk’s stance on free speech has raised concerns that Twitter will be less likely clamp down on hate speech. 

That led to major advertisers pausing their campaigns on the platform over fears that their brands could end up being seen in close proximity to such hate speech, to extremist content or other fake news. Chipotle, United Airlines, Pfizer, Audi, and General Motors are among those whose campaigns are paused.

And the prized blue tick verification that appears on the official accounts of prominent names such as politicians, celebrities and certain businesses had been converted to a paid-for option with any users able to pay $7.99 a month to join the verified ranks.

That led to a raft of fake accounts impersonating big names and spreading disinformation, with its value as a tool to identify official accounts disappearing almost overnight.

It also led to a quick suspension of the whole blue tick system and its replacement by a grey label for “government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures”.

That hasn’t stopped the feeling of chaos at the business and Musk has reportedly warned that if Twitter doesn’t start making money, a bankruptcy filing could be the end result.

In the context of all that happening the last few weeks, Balenciaga’s decisions comes as no surprise and it seems likely that other prominent fashion labels will follow suit.