X (formerly Twitter) continues to struggle to keep advertisers on board, and the brands that have stuck around are seeing ads show up in unexpected places. As reported by Media Matters, brands such as Honeywell, Discovery, Showtime and USA Today are having their ads placed alongside tweets from The National Socialist Network account, a neo-Nazi group that actively advocates for violence and terrorism. A job recruitment ad for the U.S. Border Patrol also appeared on the page.
It’s clear that not only is X still allowing hate groups to exist on the platform, it's allowing them to monetize their tweets. The National Socialist Group’s leader Thomas Sewell was found guilty of "recklessly causing injury and array" following a 2021 attack. Other members of the group have pleaded guilty to "possessing documents and records of information for terrorist acts." Yet, the group’s Twitter account is still active.