New Administration, New Social Media Rules of Engagement? What Brands Need to Know

X, formerly Twitter, has been a lightning rod for criticism from the advertising industry since Elon Musk purchased the platform in 2022 and made significant changes to the platform’s policies on safety, privacy, and authenticity. So much so that X brought forth a lawsuit alleging advertisers have colluded illegally to boycott the social network. Musk’s association with the White House — including as a donor, DOGE leadership, and most recently, a very volatile and public relationship with the President — has caused users and advertisers alike to further reconsider their engagement with the platform.

But the politicizing of X isn’t happening in isolation. The collective of Big Tech companies — Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple, and TikTok —has taken a very public leap into the political fray, clearly telegraphed on Inauguration Day. So, if the politicization of X (and its leadership) has led advertisers to reconsider its inclusion in ad buys, does that same consideration now extend to the rest of the “tech oligarchy?”

The short answer remains that it varies by brand, but the same filters still apply: reaching the right audience in the right place that aligns with the advertiser’s brand values and delivers performance results.

Let’s break down the current landscape of Big Tech ad platforms into three key areas: audience, brand safety, and company leadership.

1. Platform audience: shifting demographics and political alignments

The audience on the largest digital and social media platforms is becoming increasingly divided along political lines. This is simply a reflection of the state of the real world in the U.S. For example, X’s political moves have resulted in changes in its user base — with an estimated loss of 8% of users from October–December 2024 (around the time of the election), with many investing time in Bluesky and elsewhere, while others have dug in their heels, embracing Musk’s vision for free speech and open discourse. Meta faced backlash that Zuckerberg called “virtue signaling” after the election, but data suggest no notable decrease in users. TikTok also faced their own challenges in 2024 with Congress passing the “sell or be banned” bill, although government enforcement continues to be extended, and usership has also kept steady.

MARKETING IMPACTS

As platforms grapple with changing political climates, marketers need to understand how political affiliations and user behavior are affecting consumer engagement. Brands must carefully assess whether their message resonates with the changing dynamics of platform audiences or whether they risk alienating potential customers. Chances are that most brands’ target audiences will have representation in both the political left and right, and assuming brand safety, digital media can be allocated based on performance metrics. Notably, an ongoing best practice in broadcast media, has been to have a balanced presence on both right and left skewing cable news networks.

2. Platform brand safety: ensuring trust and credibility

Brand safety has always been a top priority for marketers and should remain the primary filter today. But in today’s politicized landscape, it’s become even more complicated. Platforms like X have been under fire for their handling of misinformation, hate speech, and the erosion of privacy. And in the last few months, Meta and Google (YouTube) have relaxed their privacy policies and reduced content monitoring policies, potentially making the platforms less secure for consumers and safe for brands.

MARKETING IMPACTS

More than ever, brands need to keep up with the policy shifts across all social platforms and continually ask: are platforms providing a safe environment for my brand? Are there brand risks to having a social presence on platforms that may face backlash for allowable content?

3. Company leadership: the influence of CEOs and politics

Leadership at companies like Meta, Google, and Amazon have all made policy changes since the new administration entered the White House — both internal regarding polices like DEI and those with a perhaps more direct impact on advertisers like loosening of content moderation by the platforms (notably with Meta shifting to community-based moderation) and less-restrictive data-collection policies. 

MARKETING IMPACTS

While marketers must stay aware of how the top-down policies impact consumer perception and platform interaction, the politics of Big Tech leadership should not be the primary filter for most brands to determine where to advertise. Besides, at the moment, the industry appears politically aligned with the current administration, so there’s more politically in common than different among the so-called Big Tech oligarchs.

Navigating the new normal

With the evolving dynamics in leadership, audience behavior, and brand safety, marketers must navigate a new reality in the social and broader digital media space. Here are three key takeaways for marketers:

1. Know your audience: Understand where your brand champions spend their media time and their sentiment toward platforms, Big Tech, and the personalities that run them.
2. Ongoing monitoring: Stay up to date with trending topics and conversations and regularly evaluate platforms for brand safety.
3. Know your brand, and if appropriate, stay impartial: As difficult as it may be, remember you are not your audience. An overcorrection based solely on the politics of Big Tech’s leadership may leave your brand with nowhere to go.