PragerU's 'DETRANS' Campaign Takes Center Stage on Twitter's X Platform
Twitter's X faces ad business challenges, with CEO Linda Yaccarino targeting profitability by 2024. PragerU's $1 million investment in the campaign highlights its significance, though it only amounts to a small fraction of Twitter's estimated annual ad earnings.
Karobar
In a groundbreaking move on Thursday, Twitter's X platform witnessed a unified, day-long ad campaign as part of a "timeline takeover." PragerU, a conservative media nonprofit known for its skepticism of climate change and controversial stances on various issues, utilized this advertising opportunity to promote their new film focusing on the stories of detransitioners, marked by the hashtag "#DETRANS."
PragerU, despite its name, is not an educational institution but rather aims to "preserve American ideals." Notably, the organization has faced criticism for downplaying climate change and the historical realities of slavery.
PragerU's choice of Twitter's X platform for this campaign was strategic, as the organization emphasized that it is one of the least censored social media platforms. They attributed this freedom to the changes brought about by Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, which removed certain restrictions and allowed detransitioners to share their experiences.
The film PragerU is promoting highlights the narratives of young individuals who initially sought gender-affirming care but now express regret. While PragerU describes this short documentary as its "most important" video to date, extensive research indicates that detransitioning is a rare occurrence. In a 2021 review of 27 studies involving nearly 8,000 transgender patients, less than 1% expressed regret after undergoing gender-affirmation surgeries.
Image Credits:An example of how the advertisement appears on X
Despite research supporting the life-saving nature of these procedures and their low regret rates, right-wing figures continue to stoke concerns around gender-affirming care for LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, more than 400 anti-trans bills have been introduced by state legislators.
PragerU's ad campaign coincides with a challenging period for Twitter's X platform in terms of its ad business. CEO Linda Yaccarino has projected profitability by 2024, but evidence suggests ongoing challenges. Insider Intelligence estimates a 54% decrease in annual ad earnings compared to 2022, with Similarweb reports revealing declines in traffic and monthly active users.
PragerU disclosed that it allocated $1 million to promote the "DETRANS" documentary, a portion of which was used for the X "timeline takeover." This means that Twitter's X earned just 0.053% of its estimated annual advertising earnings for this high-impact ad placement.
Despite some user pushback, Twitter's X platform has confirmed that PragerU's advertisements do not violate platform guidelines. Additionally, this particular ad cannot be dismissed or reported, even if users have blocked PragerU's account.
PragerU is also running ads for its documentary on Meta and Google, albeit with less prominence. The organization had sought a similar "takeover" ad placement on YouTube, which is part of Google, but was denied due to YouTube's ad policies related to political topics.
Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter (now X) has seen the platform reflect his personal interests. Musk has previously banned journalists reporting on him, altered platform policies to censor a bot sharing information about his private jet, and imposed sanctions on news outlets like NPR and The New York Times.
Musk's contentious relationship with the LGBTQ+ community has been evident through his online comments and policy changes, further reflecting the shifts in content moderation under his leadership.
