X, previously known as Twitter and now owned by Elon Musk, has introduced an unconventional and highly questionable ad format, shedding light on the platform’s challenges in attracting advertisers.
In recent days, numerous X users have encountered a new ad type in their For You feed, previously unseen on the platform. These ads prohibit users from liking or retweeting the ad posts. Furthermore, this new ad format withholds information about the advertiser’s identity and doesn’t overtly indicate that it is, in fact, an advertisement.
These ads have no display name or handle and you can’t even get rid of them. Here is what they look like.
Folks over at Mashable have verified the existence of this ad format by consulting numerous X users, all of whom have encountered a range of advertisements using this peculiar new style. These ads primarily comprise written copy text, an image, and a fabricated avatar, intended solely to create the impression of an authentic tweet.
The content being promoted in the ads observed seems to align with the type of content often associated with spammy, low-quality “chumbox” advertising. This category typically encompasses clickbait ads frequently found at the bottom of articles on content farm websites, a style made prominent by native ad networks like Taboola.
We all are familiar with such ads that often are titled “This Seems Unbelievable, But Happens in Dubai Everyday”, as the ad shown in the picture above. There is also the type that says “Work from home in Pakistan” with a completely unrelated picture as the thumbnail.
People who have encountered these X ads have described an experience in which clicking on any part of it, including the fabricated avatar, redirects them to a third-party website in a new browser window.
Notably, there is no corresponding X post to access, and the ad lacks an associated user profile to explore. As of now, these ads have primarily been observed within X’s mobile applications, with no confirmation of their presence on the web-based version of the platform.
These ads cannot be found in X’s ad campaign manager so it appears they are being served by a third-party provider.
What even is this @X? On my Following feed, we now just have random posts with no username, not a specified ad, no mechanism to report or engage with…
This platform has been broken for a while but it feels utterly in shambles these days. pic.twitter.com/doeUjvXq3x
— Andrew Markowiak (@aMarkzzz) October 2, 2023
The introduction of these ads shows an insight of Twitter’s current situation of advertising revenue.
