Within hours, #BoycottABC was trending across Twitter/X like wildfire, igniting furious debates about media bias, free speech, and whether or not Musk should start his own TV network on Mars (a suggestion that gained more support than it probably should have).
It didn’t take long for the digital stampede to show real-world consequences.
By morning, ABC’s subscription base was crumbling faster than a stale cookie. Nearly 1 million subscribers, many of them long-time viewers, had canceled their ABC streaming services. Platforms connected to ABC, like Hulu, also began to feel the pinch as Musk’s followers opted to abandon anything even remotely affiliated with the network. Some claimed they were “purging” their apps to make sure no corporate wokeness survived the Musk-fueled purge.
For those unfamiliar with the debate that kicked off this media firestorm, it all went down during the much-anticipated Trump vs. Harris presidential debate. Moderated by ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis, the event quickly became a battlefield of interruptions, fact-checking, and thinly veiled frustration.
