Why is Disney still advertising on Twitter?

Hiya, it’s Alex Barinka in San Francisco.Twitter is becoming an inhospitable environment for one of its biggest advertisers. But first...Tod [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hiya, it’s Alex Barinka in San Francisco.Twitter is becoming an inhospitable environment for one of its biggest advertisers. But first... Today’s must-reads: • Alibaba is [hiring 15,000]( • Marvell promised [big chipmaking gains from AI]( • TikTok is [testing a chatbot named Tako]( Most uncomfortable place on Earth On Twitter on Thursday, a Disney ad took prime real estate at the top of the search page. Just below the ad, which promoted the opening weekend for the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, was the list of trending topics on Twitter.  No. 1 was “DeSantis” — as in the Republican Florida governor, [Ron DeSantis](bbg://people/profile/17685322), who just [announced]( his run for US president in a live Twitter audio event, and who is in a prolonged, uncomfortable legal fight with Disney. [Walt Disney Co.](bbg://securities/dis) has long been a top advertiser on Twitter, where it has worked to inspire excitement around upcoming releases via tweets that it promotes to audiences that aren’t already following the brand. Now, Twitter owner Elon Musk, who personally hosted and promoted DeSantis' campaign kickoff on the platform, is directly supporting the company’s central political nemesis, and helping him launch his presidential campaign. Musk has already alienated many of his large advertisers by emboldening users with fringe viewpoints, relaxing Twitter’s content moderation standards and reinstating accounts that had run afoul of past platform rules. If the changes were bothering Disney, “Disney would have pulled their ads a long time ago and haven’t,” Musk said at a conference in April. For Disney in particular, the Twitter environment has gotten worse. The feud between Disney and DeSantis started last year, and ramped up in part when the entertainment company opposed his legislation barring discussion of gender identity in schools. Disney, which has major theme parks and investments in the state, sued the governor and its allies in late April for alleged targeted government retaliation. Echoes of the fight are carrying over into the replies to Disney’s tweets. A recent promotion of Disney cruises spurred comments suggesting children would be sexually assaulted, exposed to child predators or assaulted on the ship. Other commenters compared the colors in Minnie Mouse’s outfit to the transgender flag. Replies to tweets promoting The Little Mermaid, which debuts Friday, have been explicitly racist, aimed at the lead actress playing Ariel, Halle Bailey, who is Black. “Ariel is white,” one tweet said. “Don't worry it's not for white people,” said another. On Wednesday night, Musk’s friend David Sacks, the venture capitalist who co-hosted the event, invited DeSantis to say his piece on the issue. He called the Republicans taking Disney’s side in the fight “corporatist.” Disney declined to comment on its spending on Twitter. It had ad campaigns active as of Thursday. The company won’t necessarily pull its Twitter spending — not all marketers avoid platforms where people post things they may disagree with. It’s often a balance between return on investment and reputational risk. But there is some additional precedent with Disney in particular. The entertainment company stopped advertising on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show in 2020 after the host made controversial comments about the Black Lives Matter movement. Advertisers generally evaluate the success of social media posts by how much conversation they spur, through retweets, replies and favorites. So numbers-wise, DeSantis’ attention may be helping Disney’s campaigns — just don’t look too closely at what people are saying. —[Alex Barinka](mailto:abarinka2@bloomberg.net) The big story C3.ai’s stock rallied 200% as ChatGPT mania swept Wall Street. Now short sellers are [betting on a fall](, and its founder’s micromanagement and product delays are under scrutiny. One to watch [Watch the Bloomberg Technology TV interview]( with Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, who discusses how AI might impact the shopping experience. Get fully charged Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC is in talks to receive as much as 50% in subsidies for a [German chipmaking plant](. 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