A public verbal attack from X owner Elon Musk is causing controversy. He berates a lost advertiser on his platform.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk verbally attacked dishonest advertisers on his online platform X during a public appearance. “If someone tries to blackmail me with ads? Blackmail me with money? Fuck you!” Musk complained on stage at a New York Times conference on Wednesday. He specifically mentioned Disney boss Bob Iger. An advertiser boycott will kill X (formerly Twitter), he said.
When asked whether, as the world’s richest person, he would keep the platform running permanently, Musk appeared to indicate that he would accept X’s financial failure. Advertisers who pulled their ads would then have to explain themselves to the public, he said.
Big companies stopped advertising on X
Several large companies stopped advertising in One day later, hate speech researchers demonstrated in a report how advertising from well-known brands on X was placed alongside Nazi publications.
After weeks of controversy, Musk acknowledged for the first time that his “truth” post was a mistake and explained that his views had been misinterpreted. He simply wanted to tell Jewish organizations that it was unwise to support radical Islamists who wanted their destruction.
Musk’s X contribution was condemned by the White House, among others, and received approval in anti-Semitic circles. He then repeatedly emphasized that he was not an anti-Semite. Musk was received in Israel on Monday. There he visited, among other things, a kibbutz that was attacked by the Islamist Hamas on October 7 with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Musk emphasized on Wednesday that the visit had nothing to do with the controversy surrounding his X contribution. (APA)