Elon Musk sparks advertiser backlash on X over antisemitic posts
In a series of controversial posts on X, Elon Musk endorsed antisemitic conspiracy theories, sparking an advertiser backlash. Musk's remarks, including an endorsement of a post blaming Jews for White nationalist violence, led to major brands like Apple and Disney pulling ads from the platform. X's policies, influenced by Musk, have been criticised for allowing harmful content. Musk's subsequent apology and actions, including a visit to Auschwitz, aim to address the fallout. The incident intensified tensions with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), with Musk previously blaming them for a drop in ad revenue on X.
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By Aisha Counts
Elon Musk has frequently posted controversial material on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that he bought in 2022. But the world's richest man took things a step further Nov. 15 with a post endorsing the antisemitic conspiracy theory that motivated the 2018 shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, in which 11 people were killed. Musk's comment and other racist material on X have prompted a range of advertisers to halt spending on the platform. Musk, who's said the boycott would "kill the company," has since made an effort to counter accusations that he's antisemitic.
1. What did Musk say in his objectionable post?
A post on X accused Jews of having a "dialectical hatred" of White people and flooding countries with "hordes of minorities" — referencing a conspiracy that has motivated White nationalist violence. Musk responded, "You have said the actual truth." The White House called his reply "unacceptable," and Jerry Braakman, the president of First American Trust and a Tesla shareholder, said the board should suspend Musk. With 160 million followers, Musk has the most popular account on X.
2. Was this the first time Musk was accused of antisemitism?
No. Musk has made a number of previous posts that promoted or amplified antisemitic content. In May for example, Musk posted a series of attacks on George Soros, the Jewish investor who is often the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories, likening him to Magneto, the Jewish supervillain in the Marvel universe.
3. What's X's policy on antisemitic content?
Under its safety rules, X prohibits users from attacking other people on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin, among other categories. But under Musk, it has a policy called "freedom of speech, not freedom of reach," which means the company sometimes leaves harmful content up while limiting its visibility. Researchers have found that X's new policies have led to an increase in the number of antisemitic posts and other harmful content. Following the Oct. 7 outbreak of war between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas, which the US and European Union designate a terrorist organization, antisemitism on X increased by more than 900% compared to the previous week, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit that fights antisemitism. In a further post on Nov. 15, Musk attacked the ADL, which he has blamed for inspiring advertisers to abandon the site.
4. How have advertisers responded?
The confluence of Musk's Nov. 15 post and a report the next day from the watchdog group Media Matters produced an advertiser backlash against X. In its report, Media Matters said that it had found advertisements on X from Apple, IBM, Oracle, Xfinity and Bravo next to pro-Nazi content, prompting those brands to pull their ads from the platform. In addition, the European Commission, Lionsgate, Disney and Paramount suspended advertising on X.
5. How have Musk and X responded?
- Both Musk and Linda Yaccarino, the chief executive officer of X, have questioned the Media Matters report's methodology. Yaccarino said in a Nov. 17 post on the platform that X had been "extremely clear" about its efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination and that "there's absolutely no place for it anywhere in the world."
- In late November, Musk made a trip to Israel where, alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he visited the area where Hamas conducted the massacre that triggered the latest war. Musk said later that the trip was planned before the advertiser backlash and was not an "apology tour."
- On Nov. 29, at the New York Times' Dealbook conference, he did apologize for his post, saying it was "the worst and dumbest I've ever done." He also flung expletives at advertisers who paused their campaigns in protest, calling their choice to spend their ad dollars elsewhere "blackmail."
- On Jan. 22, Musk took a private tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in southern Poland, where an estimated 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed by the Nazis during World War II. Later, at a discussion in nearby Krakow organized by the European Jewish Association, he said he was "frankly naive" about the spread of antisemitism and reiterated a comment that he himself is "aspirationally Jewish."
6. What's the deal with Musk and the ADL?
In September, Musk blamed the ADL for a slump in US advertising revenue on X after a previous report by the group showed a spike in antisemitic and extremist content on the platform since the billionaire's takeover. In a series of posts attacking the ADL, Musk endorsed the hashtag #BantheADL, which was created by a known White supremacist.
Since the acquisition, The @ADL has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
If this continues, we will have no choice but to file a defamation suit against, ironically, the "Anti-Defamation" League.
If they lose the defamation suit, we will insist that they drop the the "anti" part of their name, since obviously … 😂— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
7. What are the ramifications of the advertiser boycotts?
The majority of X's revenue comes from advertising. Before Musk bought the company, it made about $4.5 billion in advertising annually. But with advertisers worried about the type of content their ads might appear next to, the figure was about $2.5 billion in 2023. X has tried to make up for lost revenue by launching a paid subscription service, offering features such as the ability to edit posts, make longer posts and see fewer ads. But fewer than 1% of users have signed up, translating to revenue of less than $120 million annually, according to external estimates. The advertising backlash is particularly worrisome for X in light of its financial struggles since Musk bought the company. He loaded it with $13 billion in debt, creating a burden of more than $1.2 billion in annual interest alone, according to Bloomberg estimates.
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