Disney, Apple among advertisers to pull business on X after Elon Musk's antisemitic post
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
SAN FRANCISCO — Tech billionaire Elon Musk faced a third day of backlash Friday from Jewish leaders, the White House and media advertisers including Disney and Apple after he embraced an antisemitic conspiracy theory earlier in the week, the latest in a pattern of his echoing anti-Jewish bigotry going back years.
Musk sparked the criticism with six words he posted Wednesday afternoon on X, the social media app he purchased a year ago. Responding to another user who had accused Jews of hating white people and who had expressed indifference to antisemitism, Musk wrote: "You have said the actual truth."
Musk, the CEO of the automaker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX, followed up his first tweet with criticism of the Anti-Defamation League, or ADL, an organization founded by Jews to oppose antisemitism. Musk has been feuding with the ADL for months over its efforts to reduce extremism on social media, a campaign that Musk says has cost X ad sales.
On Thursday morning, Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL's CEO, said Musk was acting dangerously.
"At a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one's influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories," he wrote on X, with a screenshot of Musk's six-word tweet.
The White House added its condemnation Friday as the backlash continued, saying that Musk had promoted "antisemitic and racist hate" against "our core values as Americans."
Accounts with histories of espousing anti-Jewish views celebrated Musk's tweet as welcome news and as confirmation that he agrees with them "on the JQ," short for "Jewish question," a term used by antisemites for decades.
"This is old-timey antisemitism with new lingo," said A.J. Bauer, an assistant professor of journalism who studies right-wing movements and media at the University of Alabama.
Musk announced a content policy Friday that the ADL welcomed, saying that X would suspend accounts that use the phrase "from the river to the sea." The phrase is popular among many Palestinians, while many Jews say the phrase means the eradication of Israel.
But otherwise, Musk was defiant about his comments earlier in the week. His tweets from Wednesday were still online, and Friday, he posted on X that free speech was at stake and that he would not be pressured.
"I am sticking to my principles!" he replied to one user.
"As for any fake advocacy groups who seek to suppress free speech, they should remember that karma is real," he added.
A representative for X did not immediately respond to an interview request Friday.
IBM said Thursday it had pulled its advertisements from X. A recent investigation by the progressive organization Media Matters found that advertisements from IBM and other corporations were running on X adjacent to pro-Nazi material.
"IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation," the company said in a statement. A representative for IBM added that the company was investigating the Media Matters report, not Musk's posts specifically.
The Walt Disney Company is also pausing spending on X, according to a source with direct knowledge. Its decision was earlier reported by The New York Times.Two other media companies, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, said through representatives late Friday that they were pausing, too.
Comcast and NBCUniversal are also holding off on advertising on the X platform, a spokesperson said Friday. (Comcast owns NBCUniversal, which is the parent company of NBC News.)
Apple is also holding off on advertising on X, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.
The European Commission decided to stop advertising on X over concerns about disinformation, Politico reported Friday. A commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, said on the platform Thursdaythat antisemitism and discrimination are unacceptable, though she did not directly address Musk's tweets or IBM's move.
"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," she wrote. X also said in an email that Media Matters' investigation was flawed, in part because ads are designed to follow people as they browse the site, so the researcher saw the same ads multiple times in ways others might not.
Musk defended his past tweets in an interview with CNBC in May, saying he is a "prosemite," not an antisemite.
Musk's latest comments came at a fraught time for Jews worldwide and in Israel. Reports of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. climbed 388% in the aftermath of Hamas' terrorist attacks last month compared to the same period last year, according to the ADL. This week, the Biden administration announced an effort to reduce antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the director of global social action for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an organization named for the famed Nazi hunter, said he was baffled by the way Musk uses X.
"I don't understand why Elon Musk, even though it's his toy, would jump in with this kind of statement, whatever his motivation may be, that further involves him with bigots," he said.
"I almost feel like saying to him, 'Grow up,'" he added.
Experts who study antisemitism and other extremism said Musk was parroting decades-old baseless claims about Jews' colluding with one another at the expense of others.
"Not only is there no evidence; these have been discredited time and time again," said Matthew Hughey, a sociology professor at the University of Connecticut who has studied white supremacy.
Musk has 163 million followers on X, more than anyone else, so what he publishes can have a real impact on the real-world actions of others, Hughey added.
"We should expect to see more hate crimes and rallying around this type of discourse because of his amplification," he said.
Musk's tweet was the third post in a thread involving other people. The initial post, by a self-described Jewish conservative from South Florida, was a video condemning antisemitism online. It said: "You got something you want to say? Why dont you say it to our faces."
The second person then jumped in with a multi-paragraph outline of a conspiracy theory sometimes known as the "great replacement theory," which has been amplified by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, among others. This person said that Jewish communities have been pushing "hatred against whites" and that Jews support "flooding" the U.S. with "hordes of minorities."
The person wrote that he was "deeply disinterested" in "western Jewish populations" who are now facing threats, to which Musk responded, "You have said the actual truth."
By Friday, Musk's tweet had received 6.7 million views on X, according to the site's view counter.
Musk has a long history of amplifying antisemitic conspiracy theories. In 2018, he tweeted: "Who do you think *owns* the press? Hello"; in a follow-up tweet in response to accusations of antisemitism at the time, he said he was referring only to "powerful people." Last year, he tweeted a photo of Adolf Hitler as part of an apparent joke and welcomed back the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, to social media despite Ye's antisemitic comments.
"Elon Musk has been making antisemitic comments on Twitter and on other formats for many, many years," said Bauer, of the University of Alabama.
"When someone tells you who they are, you should listen, and he's long been telling us that he's an antisemite," he said.
Musk said in the article above: "As for any fake advocacy groups who seek to suppress free speech, they should remember that karma is real,"
Maybe he shouldn't have said that, because that "real" Karma might just bite him in the ass and bankrupt his X.
How can such an intelligent man as Musk make such stupid comments?
It is easy when one is praised as the God of Free Speech. You were warned this would happen.
Few are they worthy of hubris and fewer yet those worthy of praising it.
an afrikaner that's a neo-nazi supporting antisemite and maga icon? gee, go figure...
Its simple. He thinks he runs the world, therefore why would anyone question anything he says.
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He's clearly not that smart.
Maybe you should reconsider the word "intelligent". He spoke of Karma. His Space X rocket just blew up. I always did believe in Karma, and "Ain't it the truth."
We all should be in favor of free speech.
For some it seems that freedom of speech is simply repeating the lies of the left.
Evidently, he is wrong, because here is NT featuring it on the front page.
The word is correct. One can be intelligent and also be a lot of other things.
I kind of wished that the issue of TikTok publishing the Bin Laden letter would have been the story posted, but that's how it goes around here.
it's fun watching rwnj's shoot themselves in both feet, isn't it?
The short answer (based on the way many psychologists think) is that there is not just one type of intelligence, but actually there are many types. For example, someone may a brilliant computer programmer. But not able to cook a simple meal. And vice-versa.
Another source of possible confusion: many people confuse than uncommon quality ("common sense") with intelligence. A person may be great at one of those but doesn't necessarily mean they're good at the other.
(And some folks are excellent at both-- others aren't very good at either).
Very well explained. He sure as hell lacks common sense.
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He definitely has an oversized Ego. So perhaps he feels that karma does in fact exist and affects everyone. Except him (because he's so "special").
I am glad to see that Karma did, as I predicted, bite him in the ass.
How can Elon hate Jews when they've done such a fine job of modeling their Israeli government after his own apartheid homeland?
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I have no problem with Jewish people. They have never tried to make me eat bacon or lie idly about on the sabbath. They haven't tried to force their religion on me like the Christians do. I do, however, have some issues with the Israeli government and their apartheid policies.
Bacon is a vegetable.
bacon is a condiment.
It is not actually a vegetable, although rumor has it that some Pigs identify as a Vegetable!
The preferred personal pronouns of those pigs are usually: He, She, Veggie
Did Apartheid South Africa allow Blacks to serve in the army (and posses weapons?)
Did Apartheid South Africa let Blacks vote-- and let Blacks run for office and serve in Parliament?
In the Segregated US South,I've heard many White Southerners say something similar-- but you forgot the second part:
I have no problem with Nigr*s-- as long as they stay in their place!
It sure showed up IMO in StevieGee's comment. Did South Africa allow Blacks to be mayors and officials in its White cities and towns? Did South Africa allow Blacks to be doctors in White hospitals? Did South Africa allow a Black to be a Justice on its Supreme Court? And, let me tell him about the first time I was in Miami, when I was 15 years old. When I went into a major department store, I saw 2 water fountains side-by side - the big beautiful cooled water one beside the crappy looking one that had a sign over it "Colored Only". That was my first experience with something like that, something I never saw back home in Canada. My second one was when I got on a bus there and went to where I always liked to sit on a bus back home, the back of the bus. The driver turned around and told me to come up front. I didn't want to, but then the driver said he was not going to drive the bus until I came up front. I didn't move, but then the white people up front turned around and started yelling at me so I reluctantly went up front. Now, THAT was Apartheid.
Apartheid, translation, ''apartness''...Is Israel apartheid? IMO, not in the way most would look at it. The US was an apartheid country for centuries, every aspect of life in the US was subject to it, this is not true in Israel. Our rights are enshrined in our constitution although it took a few hundred years to figure it out and implement it.
In Israel, there is no guarantee of full equality for Jewish and Palestinian citizens. In fact there are those that argue that there are seven Israeli laws that are racist.
Here is a link if you want to read them.
Israel is one of only five countries in the world that does not have a written constitution.
Within the population of Israel, we have a number of groups that are both Jewish and non Jewish but citizens.
There are Ethiopian Jews, Yemeni Jews, Moroccan Jews, European Jews, all citizens. The Druze and Circassian are non-Jewish but citizens and of course Palestinians and Bedouins not Jewish but citizens of Israel.
So, that alone would tell you there is no active apartheid in Israel, the real question is is there racism or are some Jews more equal than others?
For what its worth
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A March 2023 position paper by the Israeli Law Professors' Forum for Democracy, a group of 120 Israeli law professors, stated that recent changes introduced by the Netanyahu government "validate the claim that Israel practices apartheid". Specifically, the group criticized the 23 February power-sharing agreement signed between the Likud parliamentary faction and the Religious Zionism faction granting the far-right leader of Religious Zionism, Bezalel Smotrich , special authority over the occupied West Bank. The professors argue that this transfer of responsibility to civilian hands violates international law, specifically the 1907 Hague Regulations . The Biden administration criticized this aspect of the power-sharing agreement, calling it a step toward annexation; a Haaretz editorial stated, "In light of the fact that there is no intention of granting civil rights to the millions of Palestinians living in the West Bank, the result of the agreement is a formal, full-fledged apartheid regime."
On 13 August 2023, former IDF Northern Command commander Amiram Levin said: "There are MKs in the government who came from the West Bank and do not know what democracy is. 57 years of absolute apartheid. The IDF is standing by and beginning to be complicit in war crimes. Walk around Hebron and you will see streets where Arabs cannot walk, just like what happened in Germany".
On 6 September 2023, former Mossad head Tamir Pardo said that Israel had imposed apartheid in the West Bank. He argued that "two people are judged under two legal systems" because Israel had imposed military law on the Palestinians while Jewish settlers in West Bank are governed by civilian courts.
Israel and apartheid - Wikiwand
I look at the West Bank a separate situation from Israel proper, JR.
The West Bank is a separate animal in a sense and I just posted a comment on the WB on another article.
I've posted a few articles on what is happening in the WB.
is about the West Bank, not Gaza
The religious directed far right government in Israel intends to give the Palestinians three choices
1. Leave Israel
or
2. Accept second class status
or
3. Be destroyed
These three choices pertain to all Palestinians who live in territory controlled by Israel, which includes both Gaza and the West bank.
I'm aware of this, JR.
Hopefully when the war is over Netanyahu and his administration will be out on their ass.
I'm 100% with you on that.
How many choices did they have between 1948 and 2020?
Ban can be wrapped around everything.
Growing up in the south, I heard many democrats utter those exact words.
Probably many still do today, but under their breath
They became republicans after the civil rights movement, but unfortunately there are still many out there.
That comment is a lie, here is a simple test, name 5 of those democrats that became republicans, democrats were racist then and racist now, Biden, Clinton, Byrd, all racist then and all racist now. I have never heard a republican say African Americans need white peoples help to get into college or jobs, but democrats believe that with their very soul. that is why affirmative action lives on.
The blue racists in the urban Northeast, upper Midwest and West Coast remained Dems after the civil rights movement.
Bullshit! Those voters are the current day MAGA voters of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and the rest of MAGA Land...
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And you continue to deny the structural racism of NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, …
If it weren't for racist democrats populating blue cities, the populations of those cities would be a third of what they are today.
I think that NYC, Detroit and Chicago lead the nation the Black flight.
No, but you guys are in denial of who the MAGA voters are and where they are and what motivates them to vote Trump / MAGA!
Or, are you just trolling! Because, everyone knows your BS...
See 2.1.23 and 2.1.29 for details and proof.
Many of them were Obama voters.
Still denying the structural racism in your city!
Seven decades after Brown vs Board more than 8 in 10 Black students and over 7 in 10 Latino students attend a NYC school where more than 90% of their classmates are students of color.
Hey, I'll bet you even tell people that some of your best friends are Jews.
How can Elon hate Jews when they've done such a fine job of modeling their Israeli government after his own apartheid homeland?
What is...a Kibbutz?
You too?
Israel is not an apartheid state. It is not perfect, but definitely not apartheid and claiming it is really just betrays a lack of knowledge on the subject. Israel is without a doubt far superior to ANY of their Arab neighbors when it comes to treating the people in its border with equality. It isn’t even a competition.
I dont consider myself well enough informed on Israel to claim Israel is or is not an "apartheid state". I think the term is being applied somewhat like people used to say America was an apartheid state. It kind of depends on what is meant by the term.
I did post a comment above which has three Israeli sources saying that their country is apartheid. Of course that is just their opinion as well.
The Palestinians in the West Bank are not treated with equality. They are not Israeli citizens, but neither do they rule themselves. They cannot tell the Israeli military to leave their territory, for example. They are judged under military law (which allows people to be held indefinitely without a trial) while Israelis living in the same area (the West Bank) are judged under civil law.
Perhaps because he feels that citizens of Gaza can vote for their leaders and even hold seats in the Hamas' government parliament-- but Israeli Arabs can not?
Companies (or owners of companies) should have learned by now to stay out of politics, it almost never works out well.
In most cases when a company takes a strong stand on one side of an issue-- they often has increased sales form people supporting that position. But OTOH-- they usually lose sales to people on the other side of the issue. (They are probably a few exceptions but that's generally the case)/
It would be interesting to see data on if taking a position increase revenue more than it decreases revenue for cases. My gut tells me there are more losses than gains but that is because it is more of what I see on TV. I would think the company would have an idea what a position would gain or lose before taking the plunge but I am not confident that is the case.
I think you're right. In general its risky.
There may be exceptions-- especially if the company's customers are a smaller group. (For example if a company's customers are almost entirely in places like Boston, NYC. or San Francisco-- it may be a relatively safe be to promote progressive causes. OTOH if they are mainly in, say, the rural deep South or parts of the rural Mid-West, it may be safe to take a very Conservative position).
Or if their business caters mainly or only to a particular racial or religious group.
I have always wondered why companies wade into the culture wars. Always seemed dumb to me. Michael Jordan had it completely right when he was asked why he doesn’t wade into politics, “republicans huh sneakers too.”
I think its because some people are generally pretty incompetant-- so they do stupid stuff!
Another reason-- sometimes suddenly there's a lot of pressure from a particular racial, religious, or ethnic group to adopt a certain position.
I don't see it as politics if a company does not want to be seen as being aligned with Nazis. I think it has to due with preservation of reputation.
"Experts who study antisemitism and other extremism said Musk was parroting decades-old baseless claims about Jews' colluding with one another at the expense of others."
The whole point of identity politics is to collude to create a special interest that benefits itself at the expense of others. This is precisely what Democrats do with their politics of victimization. Democrats really to collude with special interests to benefit themselves at the expense of others.
Apparently that is why it has become necessary to intimidate and coerce those who object to how Democrats practice politics. Democrats are now using identity politics to justify political violence.
A politics adopted wholeheartedly by Republicans.
there's already a loudmouth maga a-hole running for POTUS, in an attempt to stay out of prison, that has proclaimed himself to be the planet's leading political victim.
You know the comments made by the former 'president' regarding rooting out the vermin on the left sounds [deleted] has referred to Liberals/Democrats/Progressives in the past as vermin.
Just like their hero, that monumental turd.
It seems by your but but but the other guys you are admitting the dems do it as was stated.
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Nietzsche
More of a 'however' than your boring alliteration.
Semantics as a diversion....cool.
I've heard more than one Trump supporter "explain" that the most discriminated against people in the U.S. are "White Christian Males"/
"People are saying that" so it must be true!
But OTOH, is it a good idea to let oneself be accused of being "Anti-Semantic"?
Why is it that only Democrats always do that-- but Republicans never do?
Might have something to do with the history of both parties. The Democratic Party was specifically established to protect and defend the institution of chattel slavery. Democrats have always been identity conscious.
The Republican Party was specifically established to abolish chattel slavery. Republicans enshrined civil rights based on the idea of equality into the Constitution.
How is it possible to achieve equality by highlighting distinctions and differences? Democrats have abandoned the idea of equality to favor the idea of equity. The idea of equity is very dependent upon identity politics.
But Trump would never engage in politics of Victimization, would he?
He teaches a class in it
According to Democrats Trump is a xenophobic bigot that oppresses all minorities. According to Democrats the entire country has been victimized by Trump.
The gaslighting tactics utilized by Democrats has been to blame others for the evil that they do.
Sounds like an over-generalization to me. (But after all, this is the Internet).
I think it would be more accurate if you said:
According to many Democrats Trump is a xenophobic bigot that oppresses all minorities. According to many Democrats the entire country has been victimized by Trump.
Or even "according to most Democrats ..."
Dude, Donald Trump is the personification of victimhood. All he does is whine about how mean everyone is to him. He is probably the biggest pussy to ever exist.
Musk always came across to me as kind of a douche, and since he was forced to go through with buying Twitter he has proven me to be 1000% correct.