X seeks appellate revival of advertisers' boycott lawsuit after earlier dismissal

X, owned by Elon Musk, petitioned the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to revive its antitrust action against a group of advertisers it accuses of orchestrating an illegal boycott. The company says the coordinated refusal to place ads on X caused massive financial losses and let competing platforms charge above-market rates. The case was dismissed in March by US District Judge Jane Boyle of the Northern District of Texas, who ruled that a simple loss of customers to competitors does not constitute antitrust injury.

Musk recently settled with the World Federation of Advertisers, removing that entity from the litigation, but X still seeks damages from advertisers including Mars, CVS Health, Nestle, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate-Palmolive, Lego, Pinterest, Tyson Foods, Shell and Ørsted A/S. X argues that the defendants’ significant market power turns the boycott into an unreasonable restraint on trade and urges the appellate court to overturn the lower-court ruling.