What's the deal? Twitch makes deal to escape Elon Musk suit alleging X ad boycott conspiracy Twitch must meet certain conditions by the end of the year to get dismissal. Ashley Belanger – Apr 8, 2025 2:56 pm | 42 Credit: SOPA Images / Contributor | LightRocket Credit: SOPA Images / Contributor | LightRocket Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Twitch has struck a deal with Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) to eject itself from a lawsuit over an ad boycott shortly following Musk's takeover of Twitter in October 2022. In a court filing Monday, X lawyers provided no details on the deal but explained that "X and Twitch have entered into a memorandum of understanding resolving the action as to Twitch," so long as "certain conditions" are met by December 31. Musk has called for "criminal prosecution" of anyone involved in the ad boycott. But while Twitch was one of about a dozen companies that X directly accused of conspiring to withhold billions in ad revenue from then-Twitter, it was not part of X's initial complaint. The livestreaming service was only added to the lawsuit after X amended its complaint in November to pull in more advertisers, and since then, Twitch has never responded to any of X's accusations. Instead, in its filing, X speaks for Twitch. "X and Twitch contemplate filing a status report or a notice of dismissal as to Twitch on or around January 10, 2026," X's filing said. "Accordingly, X and Twitch—which has not yet appeared in this lawsuit but whose counsel have authorized the undersigned to represent that their client supports this request—ask this Court to stay the case as to Twitch only pending such a filing." X may not count Twitch among the worst ad boycotters X's beef is primarily with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), which had previously set brand safety standards that advertisers typically adhered to in order to avoid having their ads appear next to objectionable content online. X has claimed that boycotters followed WFA's direction to boycott X, despite knowing that doing so could hurt their business (by losing out on advertising on the social media platform where X claims it's easier to reach key demographics). But X did not claim that Twitch was among these perhaps worst offenders that X accused of boycotting X simply to deprive it of core revenue. Instead, it appears that X decided to sue Twitch after discovering that Twitch was among advertisers who directly referenced the WFA's brand safety guidelines in its own community guidelines and terms of service. X likely saw this as evidence that Twitch was allegedly conspiring with the WFA to restrict then-Twitter's ad revenue, since X alleged that Twitch reduced ad purchases to "only a de minimis amount outside the United States, after November 2022," X's complaint said. "The Advertiser Defendants and other GARM-member advertisers acted in parallel to discontinue their purchases of advertising from Twitter, in a marked departure from their prior pattern of purchases," X's complaint said. Now, it seems that X has agreed to drop Twitch from the suit, perhaps partly because the complaint X had about Twitch adhering to WFA brand safety standards is defused since the WFA disbanded the ad industry arm that set those standards. Unilever struck a similar deal to wriggle out of the litigation, Reuters noted, and remained similarly quiet on the terms, only saying that the brand remained "committed to meeting our responsibility standards to ensure the safety and performance of our brands on the platform." But other advertisers, including Colgate, CVS, LEGO, Mars, Pinterest, Shell, and Tyson Foods, so far have not. For Twitch, its deal seems to clearly take a target off its back at a time when some advertisers are reportedly returning to X to stay out of Musk's crosshairs. Getting out now could spare substantial costs as the lawsuit drags on, even though X CEO Linda Yaccarino declared the ad boycott was over in January. X is still $12 billion in debt, X claimed, after Musk's xAI bought X last month. External data in January seemed to suggest many big brands were still hesitant to return to the platform, despite Musk's apparent legal strong-arming and political influence in the Trump administration. Ars could not immediately reach Twitch or X for comment. But the court docket showed that Twitch was up against a deadline to respond to the lawsuit by mid-May, which likely increased pressure to reach an agreement before Twitch was forced to invest in raising a defense. Ashley Belanger Senior Policy Reporter Ashley Belanger Senior Policy Reporter Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. She is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience. 42 Comments