Brands are deferring advertising on social media platform X, the new name for Twitter, until they understand where owner Elon Musk is taking the company, according to the CEO of ad group WPP (WPP).

Musk unveiled the new name and logo last month, signifying his focus on building an “everything app” with services beyond social media, such as peer-to-peer payments.

Since Musk’s takeover in October, the social media company has faced months of turmoil, including numerous layoffs, scrutiny for insufficient content moderation, and an advertiser exodus due to concerns about their ads being placed alongside inappropriate content, according to Reuters.

Ad revenue had fallen by 50 percent, Musk said last month.

Mark Read, CEO of the world’s largest ad group, WPP (WPP.L), on Friday said the re-branding “took people a little bit by surprise”.

He added: “Clients cannot understand where the platform is heading and what its character will be in the future,” he told Reuters after WPP published its first-half results.

“Some clients are dipping their toe back in, but overall I’d describe it as wait and see.”

X Corp Announces Delay in Payments: X Corp is facing challenges in timely payments to verified creators within its ad revenue-sharing initiative due to an overwhelming influx of payment requests. 

In a recent announcement, the X Support account mentioned that due to the immense popularity of their ‘Ads Revenue Sharing’ programme, they require additional time to thoroughly review all aspects before the upcoming payout, a IANS report stated.

“The volume of people signing up for revenue sharing has exceeded our expectations,” said the SM platform.

“We previously said that payments would occur the week of July 31. We need a bit more time to review everything for the next payout and hope to get all eligible accounts paid as soon as possible,” said X Corp.

In the first round of payments, the platform gave some creators Blue Badges after Musk announced the ad revenue-sharing plan in February.

As it launched its ad revenue programme for creators across the globe, including in India, one must now be a subscriber to X Blue (previously Twitter Blue), have at least 15 million impressions on cumulative posts within the last three months, and have at least 500 followers.