Elon Musk rails against ‘bogus’ media accusing him of antisemitism
- Musk last week amplified an antisemitic post which prompted a rebuke from the White House and led to IBM, Apple and Disney declaring they were leaving X
- Responding on Sunday, Musk said ‘bogus media stories’ branding him as antisemitic were false and that ‘nothing could be further from the truth’
- READ MORE: Apple will PAUSE advertising on X as Elon Musk backtracks
Elon Musk has railed against ‘bogus’ media accusing him of antisemitism after he agreed with a post that said Jewish people hold ‘dialectical hatred’ of white people.
Musk last week amplified an antisemitic post which prompted a rebuke from the White House and led to IBM, Lionsgate, Paramount, Apple and Disney declaring they were leaving X, formerly Twitter.
Responding for the first time on Sunday, Musk wrote: ‘This past week, there were hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that I am antisemitic. Nothing could be further from the truth. I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.’
He sparked the latest fallout by responding to a post that seemed to purport the far-right ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory.
The post on X said: ‘Jewish communities have been pushing dialectical hatred against whites.’
Musk, who has 163 million followers on X, replied: ‘You have said the actual truth.’
Elon Musk has railed against ‘bogus’ media accusing him of antisemitism after he agreed with a post that said Jewish people hold ‘dialectical hatred’ of white people
In his latest outburst against the media, the Twitter tsar has claiming ‘nothing could be further from the truth’ than reports linking this to advertisers being alienated by his radical views
The White House accused Musk of an ‘abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate’ that ‘runs against our core values as Americans.’
‘It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie … one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,’ White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said, referring to the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israel.
In addition to Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Comcast, Lions Gate Entertainment and Paramount Global said on Friday they also were pausing their ads on X.
Axios reported that Apple the world’s largest company by market value, was also pausing its ads.
IBM on Thursday halted its advertising on X after a report found its ads were placed next to content promoting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Media Matters, a liberal watchdog, said it found that corporate advertisements by IBM, Apple, Oracle and Comcast’s Xfinity were being placed alongside antisemitic content.
Advertisers have fled the site, formerly called Twitter, since Musk bought it in October 2022 and reduced content moderation, resulting in a sharp rise in hate speech on X, according to civil rights groups.
Representatives for Musk and X on Friday declined to comment as backlash grew against his post.
‘Many of the largest advertisers are the greatest oppressors of your right to free speech,’ Musk wrote on X on Friday while promoting a premier tier of the platform that removes ads from users’ feeds.
‘Premium+ also has no ads in your timeline,’ he said.
‘When it comes to this platform – X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There’s no place for it anywhere in the world – it’s ugly and wrong. Full stop,’ X CEO Linda Yaccarino said on Thursday.
Antisemitism has been on the rise in recent years in the United States and worldwide.
Pro-Palestine protesters are seen in London on November 15
Demonstrators demanding the U.S. government call for a ceasefire are pictured on November 15 in New York City
Following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas after last month’s attack, antisemitic incidents in the United States rose by nearly 400 percent from the year-earlier period, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit organization that fights antisemitism.
Musk, chief executive of electric vehicle maker Tesla and founder of rocket company SpaceX, has blamed the Anti-Defamation League for the ongoing drop in advertisers, without offering any evidence.
In September, Musk swerved the topic of antisemitism when asked during an interview with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.
Musk would not address the subject, other than saying he is ‘obviously against’ it, and spoke more generally about ‘hate speech’ instead.
Netanyahu previously came to Musk’s defense when he was accused of repeating discriminatory tropes about Jewish financier George Soros, and he introduced the subject by reiterating his belief that the Tesla boss does not have anti-Jewish views.
‘I know of your opposition to anti-Semitism,’ the 73-year-old Israeli leader told Musk during their X discussion.
‘All I can say is I hope you can find within the confines of the First Amendment the ability to stop not only antisemitism or roll it back as best you can, but any collective hatred of a people that anti-Semitism represents.’
‘Obviously I’m against anti-Semitism,’ Musk replied. ‘I’m anti really anything that promotes hate and conflict, and I’m in favor that which helps society and takes us to a better future for humanity collectively.’
Elon Musk declined to address anti-Semitism on X when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broached the subject during their live-streamed discussion
A huge crowd of protesters gathered in San Francisco’s Union Square close to where Musk and Netanyahu were meeting to demonstrate their opposition to his reforms – and to Musk giving him a platform
But the SpaceX boss didn’t elaborate or defend his controversial statements about Soros, including comparing him to X-Men supervillain Magneto – a character who manipulates the world and thinks mutants should be in charge rather than humans.
Speaking about hate speech generally on X, he said: ‘It’s important to bear in mind that there are 550 million monthly users, now maybe going to 600 million monthly users.
‘On any given day there’s on the order of 100 to 200 million posts to the system. This is a lot of material. Some of those are going to be bad.
‘You can’t police it in advance, but you can say after the fact ‘oh it’s getting reported as hate speech’.
‘We’re not going to promote speech because that’s probably not what people want to hear.’
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