Escalating hostility with major advertisers, X has sued a coalition representing big-money brands for allegedly coordinating a boycott of the platform in violation of antitrust laws, Ednews informs referring to The Hollywood Reporter.

The proposed class action, filed in federal court in Texas on Tuesday, accuses the World Federation of Advertisers of conspiring with companies to withhold advertising on X due to relaxed safety standards since Elon Musk assumed control of platform in 2022. In the wake of the takeover, 18 firms stopped ad campaigns with the platform and dozens more slashed spending, in several cases by over 70 percent, in a bid to coerce X into implementing favored policies, according to the complaint.

“The illegal behavior of these organizations and their executives cost X billions of dollars,” wrote X chief executive Linda Yaccarino in an open letter to advertisers. “People are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is undermined and some viewpoints are not funded over others as part of an illegal boycott.”

In a post on X, Musk urged others to join the lawsuit. “We tried being nice for 2 years and got nothing but empty words,” he wrote. “Now, it is war.”

The companies named in the lawsuit, which include CVS, Unilever and Mars, are members of the World Federation of Advertisers. In 2019, the group established an initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible for Media to pursue safety guardrails on social media platforms. It’s largely concerned over advertisements appearing next to illegal or harmful content, such as child pornography or hate speech.