The latest buzz you may have missed is Elon Musk’s announcement that X, formerly Twitter, will be filing a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League. Musk accused the ADL, an organization that works to combat anti-Semitism, extremism and bigotry, of falsely accusing him and X of being anti-Semitic.
“To clear our platform’s name on anti-Semitism, we apparently have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League… oh, the irony!” tweeted the billionaire celebrity on Monday.
Musk also blamed the ADL for X’s declining U.S. advertising revenue.
“Our US ad revenue is still down 60%, largely due to the pressure @ADL is putting on advertisers (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they’ve almost succeeded in destroying X/Twitter!” Musk said.
Musk began this latest tirade by claiming that he is for free speech but “against anti-Semitism of any kind.”
The tweets come as Musk was called out for liking posts with the hashtag #BanTheADL, which was trending on X last week. The trending hashtag and Musk’s involvement with it began hours after the ADL said it had a productive conversation with X CEO Linda Yaccarino about combating hate speech on the platform.
“Since the takeover, the @ADL has attempted to destroy this platform by falsely accusing it and me of being anti-Semitic.” tweeted Musk on Monday. “If this continues, we will have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against, ironically, the Anti-Defamation League.”
Anti-Semitism was a problem on Twitter long before Musk came to power. In 2016, the ADL released a report documenting the rise in anti-Semitic hate speech against journalists on the platform, driven in part by the rhetoric of the 2016 presidential election.
Since Musk bought the platform, reports of hate speech have been increasing. In January, a lawsuit was filed in Germany accusing the platform of mishandling Holocaust denial, which is a crime in that country. Four months later, Germany announced it would fine the social media platform for repeatedly violating the law on removing hate speech on social media.
Musk himself has been accused of invoking anti-Semitic tropes and conspiracy theories by targeting Jewish billionaire George Soros and engaging in anti-Semitic content (linked to a photo of US President Joe Biden) or hateful Jews (linked to an image the actor Mel Gibson, who has made anti-Semitic comments in the past).
Musk responded, “Is Gibson really such a fan these days?” Not hate speech per se, but an example of Musk’s willingness to directly engage in anti-Semitic posts on his platform. The tweet has since been deleted.
At the beginning of August also X Lawsuit filed against the British nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) after the organization published a report that found Twitter failed to respond to 99% of hate messages posted by Twitter Blue users. The group also questioned whether Twitter’s algorithm promotes “toxic tweets.” X accuses the CCDH of unlawfully accessing data and selectively selecting posts to highlight an increase in hate speech on the platform.
The ADL is blamed for the loss of advertising revenue
Musk said the ADL’s pressure on advertisers resulted in X generating less advertising revenue in the U.S. than normal.
According to a New York Times report, US advertising revenue was
Back in June, TechCrunch broke down what this slump means for X and on a larger scale. In a weak economy, advertisers tend to pull back across the board, so a weak advertising market could mean that not all of X’s advertising problems are purely personal. Additionally, since Musk launched a wave of layoffs after the acquisition, a lower cost base means that X requires less revenue to cover personnel costs.
However, X has a lot of debt that arose from Musk’s purchase of the company.
Given that quarters typically last 13 weeks, Twitter’s $88 million in five-week advertising revenue in the U.S. market in the second quarter suggests that the company’s domestic advertising revenue is insufficient to service its debt interest payments .
Is it fair to blame the ADL for all of X’s suffering? Absolutely not. By becoming a safe haven for “speak freely“X has also likely become a place where content that violates brand safety guidelines appears more frequently. In addition, the owner of the platform regularly trolls other users and public figures, always setting an example of how to cause a stir.
Advertisers have limited spend and must carefully choose which brands and conversations they can be associated with. Claiming to be against anti-Semitism is just talk. Advertisers and users want action.