When Safety Became Alignment How a sensible framework for avoiding harm became a subjective filter for cultural comfort, and what it is costing advertisers.

open.substack.com/pub/sergeant...

Brand safety has quietly become brand alignment. Audiences aren't groups of people who buy. They have become cultural signals. And the cost is not reputational disaster, it's the steady erosion of effectiveness from excluding buyers on the basis of assumption rather than outcome.

Advertisers set to return to X as they seek favour with Elon Musk and Donald Trump Some brands had abandoned the site over moderation concerns

FT reports: Trump’s win & Musk’s ties to him have some brands considering a return to X, hoping to leverage Musk’s role in Trump’s administration.

But who?

My understanding was advertisers moved away because of concerns about brand safety which doesn't seem to change.

www.ft.com/content/34b6...