Subscribe to our Evening Headlines email to receive daily updates on the latest news
Sign up for our free US Evening Headlines email
Elon Musk has vowed to file a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against a US media watchdog who claimed that anti-Semitic posts included advertising
The watchdog group Media Matters for America said earlier this week it had found that corporate advertising for IBM, Apple, Oracle and Comcast’s Xfinity was placed alongside anti-Semitic content on X, formerly known as Twitter.
IBM said on Thursday it had stopped all advertising after the regulator said its ads were placed next to content promoting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
The advertising exodus saga began a day before the regulator’s intervention, when a social media user appeared to spread the “great replacement” conspiracy theory on have that they supposedly spread.” want people to stop going against them.”
That theory was among the hateful ideas invoked by the gunman who killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.
Mr. Musk responded to the post, writing on his X platform: “You told the actual truth.”
Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast, Lions Gate Entertainment and Paramount Global are also pausing their advertising on X. Axios reported that Apple would do the same.
Responding to the exodus of advertisers on the platform, Mr Musk wrote a post on Saturday saying: “Many of the biggest advertisers are the biggest oppressors of your right to free speech.”
The Tesla founder added in a second post: “The court will open in a split second on Monday. X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and everyone involved in this fraudulent attack on our company.”
Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters, responded to the threat in a statement to the Daily Beast on Saturday afternoon.
“Far from being the free speech advocate he claims to be, Musk is a bully who threatens baseless lawsuits to silence reports he has even confirmed to be accurate,” Carusone said . “Musk admitted that the ads in question ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified. If he sues us, we will win.”
On Thursday, IBM told the Financial Times that it had “suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this completely unacceptable situation.”
A source at Apple told Axios that the company is doing the same, and a spokesperson for Lions Gate Entertainment confirmed that it, too, is joining the exodus. As the New York Times reports, Disney has also stopped spending on X.
The content guidelines of the Holocaust)”, but anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi content continues to appear on the network.
On Thursday, Media Matters, a left-leaning media watchdog group, released an analysis showing that ads from major brands like Apple, NBCUniversal, IBM and Oracle appear on X alongside overtly Nazi tweets.
In one example, a post appeared directly above an ad for Apple’s Mac computers claiming that Hitler and the Nazis represented a “spiritual awakening.”
Elon Musk previously accused the Anti-Defamation League of trying to “kill” his X Platform.
(Getty Images)
Mr. Musk also highlighted the Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights group that monitors anti-Semitism and forms of extremism. claim The group promotes “de facto anti-white racism.” ADL responded to the claims, calling them “dangerous.”
In September, Mr. Musk threatened to sue the ADL, accusing the watchdog group of “trying to destroy this platform” by accusing him of anti-Semitism.
“To be clear: I am for freedom of expression, but against anti-Semitism of any kind,” he said added.
The White House also weighed in, accusing Mr. Musk of “vile promotion of anti-Semitic and racist hatred.”
“It is unacceptable to repeat the vile lie behind the deadliest act of anti-Semitism in American history at any time, let alone a month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” the White House said in a statement.