TO UPDATE: The White House responded to Elon Musk’s amplification of an X/Twitter post earlier this week that promoted an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
“It is unacceptable to repeat the heinous lie behind the most fatal act of anti-Semitism in American history at any time, much less a month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” the White House spokesman said. , Andrew Bates.
Bates was referring to the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh and the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Bates added: “We condemn this abhorrent promotion of anti-Semitic and racist hatred in the strongest terms, which goes against our fundamental values as Americans.” “You told the truth,” Musk responded.
On Wednesday, Musk endorsed a post on X/Twitter in which a user wrote: “Jewish communities have been promoting the exact kind of dialectical hate against white people that they claim they want people to stop using against them.” The post promoted the “great replacement theory,” or the claim that Jewish people want to bring undocumented people of color to Western countries to reduce white influence. The convicted killer in the Tree of Life shooting embraced this theory.
Musk later attempted to clarify his position, singling out the Anti-Defamation League as a group that “unfairly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel.”
OX/Twitter has been grappling with a Media Matters report that showed major brands had their ads placed alongside pro-Nazi content on the platform, even as its CEO, Linda Yaccarino, tried to promote the social media site as a safe space. for sponsors. IBM announced it was stepping back while it investigated the report.
Other brands cited in the Media Matters report – including Apple, Oracle, Xfinity and Bravo – have not yet announced their advertising plans.
PREVIOUSLY, Thursday: Elon Musk is once again facing furore over one of his X/Twitter posts, this time when he agreed with a user’s comment that Jews have a “hatred towards white people.”
The tweet drew further attention to Musk-owned X/Twitter and the spread of anti-Semitic posts following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7.
IBM announced it was suspending advertising on the platform following a Media Matters report showing that major brands had their ads placed alongside posts promoting the Nazi party.
“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this completely unacceptable situation,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to the Financial Times and other media outlets.
Media Matters featured other posts that showed ads from Bravo, Oracle and Xfinity alongside pro-Nazi and pro-Hitler content.
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of It’s something we can and everyone should agree on. When it comes to this platform – X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat anti-Semitism and discrimination. There is no place for this anywhere in the world – it is ugly and wrong. Full stop.”
Yaccarino has been trying to convince advertisers that X/Twitter is a safe place for them to place their ads. She wrote on Tuesday: “We are always working to protect public debate.”
But Musk’s post on Wednesday amplified a long-standing anti-Semitic trope about the grand replacement theory.
One user posted: “Jewish communities have been promoting the exact kind of dialectical hatred against white people that they claim they want people to stop using against them. I am deeply uninterested in giving the slightest thought now to the fact that Western Jewish populations have come to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities who support the flooding of their country don’t like them very much. You want the truth told to your face, there it is.
Musk’s response was: “You told the truth.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote about Musk’s post: “At a time when anti-Semitism is exploding in America and emerging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one’s influence to validate and promote theories anti-Semites.”
Musk later tried to defend his post, writing: “The ADL unfairly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel. This is because they cannot, by their own principles, criticize the minority groups that are their main threat.” Musk had already threatened to sue the ADL.
Musk was scheduled to speak at a session on AI at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit today, but was replaced by John Kerry. Organizers said a schedule change prevented his participation and they declined his offer to speak remotely.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate, in an audit study released this week, reported that after a week, X/Twitter had failed to remove 196 of the 200 posts it reported to the platform’s moderators for violating terms of service. The content included posts threatening violence against Muslims, Palestinians and Jews, as well as messages that were blatantly anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim. .
