Cosette, a Quebec-based marketing agency that officially purchases advertising for the federal government, has reportedly advised the feds to pause media buying on Twitter, citing mass layoffs and public relations concerns, after the social media platform was purchased by Elon Musk.
According to an internal document sent from Cosette and
reported on by CBC News, the firm advised on Nov. 4 that the feds should “pause activity immediately and monitor the situation over the weekend,” citing “unknown continuity plans for moderation,” and “heightened risk of brand safety.”
The Government of Canada spent more than $3 million in advertising with the agency on Twitter from 2020 to 2021, according to its annual
report on media expenditures.
According to CBC, Cossette’s internal documents advise the federal government there is reason to be concerned about ongoing moderation and brand safety on Twitter, and said that the U.S. midterm elections on Nov. 8 could mean “a lot of focus on the platform for abuse.”
On Nov. 5, Twitter announced it would be moving ahead with a plan for a paid, monthly subscription for its blue checkmarks verification system.
Screenshots of the plan were tweeted by users who received messages about “Twitter Blue with verification,” but is not in operation yet.
Esther Crawford, a Twitter employee,
tweeted that the “new Blue isn’t live yet — the sprint to our launch continues but some folks may see us making updates because we are testing and pushing changes in real-time.”
“Given the fluidity of the situation with respect to Twitter’s policy, the government is assessing next steps on verification,” the Prime Minister’s Office
said. In the past, Twitter has provided blue checkmarks to news organizations, law enforcement, and governments, as well as to large well-known brands and celebrities.
“We are still working to understand the impact of Twitter’s new verification rules for advertisers and will update our guidance once we receive more clarity from Twitter,”
stated Brian Cuddy, Cossette’s SVP for responsible media solutions.
Twitter Layoffs
About 50 percent of the Twitter workforce have been laid off company-wide since Musk purchased Twitter and took possession on
Oct 27.
“Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required,” Musk
tweeted on Nov. 4. He said that the company had no choice because Twitter was losing over $4 million dollars per day.
Musk has attributed some of that drop in revenue to activists.
“Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists,” he
tweeted on Nov. 4.
“They’re trying to destroy free speech in America,” he added.
On Nov. 1, a number of U.S.-based advocacy organizations, such as Friends of the Earth, GLAAD, National Center for Transgender Equality, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, DemCast USA, and the Center on Race and Digital Justice, among dozens of others, wrote an
open letter to what they said was “Twitter’s 20 largest US advertisers,” urging these companies to boycott Twitter.
Some of the major companies addressed include Amazon, Apple Inc., CBS, Coca-Cola Company, IBM, Disney, Google, Merck & Co., and Procter & Gamble. The letter alleges Musk plans to “undermine brand safety and community standards.”
On Nov. 7, the President of Judicial Watch, Tom Fitton,
tweeted that he wondered if Elon Musk and Twitter had “tortious interference claims against the Left activist groups which are causing damaging advertiser boycotts of the platform?”—meaning a legal claim for damages against his business.
“We do,” Musk
replied the same day.
Cossette
Cossette
officially became the firm contracted to provide media planning and strategy, media buying, and advertising services to the Government of Canada in August 2019.
In 2014, China’s BlueFocus Communications acquired a majority stake in the parent company of Cossette. BlueFocus Communications,
described as “China’s leading advertising, PR, digital marketing and communications company,” was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2010 and reportedly represents over 1,500 brands globally.
In May 2020, the Quebec government announced it would award Cossette a
three-year contract worth $15 million per year to develop campaigns and media relations during the pandemic. The deal came with some controversy amid
criticism from Quebec-based advertising agencies. Cossette CEO Brett Marchand told
The Message, an online marketing blog, that people felt government work should be given to a Canadian firm instead of a Chinese-owned company, while saying these concerns are “unfounded.”
In May 2021, a
majority stake in Cossette was acquired by two Quebec companies, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), and private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, headquartered in Quebec City.
The Epoch Times contacted Cossette, the Prime Minister’s Office, and Twitter for comments, but didn’t hear back by publication time.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
