URGENT:
The White House has replied to Elon Musk’s retweet of an X/Twitter post that advocated an antisemitic conspiracy theory earlier this week.
“It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for the White House, stated
Bates was alluding to the 2018 Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooting and the October 7 Hamas strike on Israel.
“We denounce in the strongest terms this heinous promotion of antisemitic and racist hate, which goes against our fundamental values as Americans,” Bates continued. “You have spoken the truth,” Musk retorted.
“Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them,” a user stated in a post on X/Twitter that Musk applauded on Wednesday. The article promoted the “great replacement theory,” which holds that Jews intend to lessen the power of white people in western nations by bringing in illegal non-white immigrants. That idea was accepted by the murderer who was found guilty in the Tree of Life massacre.
After a while, Musk made an attempt to retract his statement, citing the Anti-Defamation League as an organization that “unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel.”
Even though its CEO, Linda Yaccarino, has attempted to market X/Twitter as a secure zone for sponsors, the social media network has been dealing with a Media Matters study that revealed big businesses had their ads placed next to pro-Nazi content on the website. IBM declared that it was taking a break from its operations as it looked into the report.
Apple, Oracle, Xfinity, and Bravo are among the other companies included in the Media Matters study that have not yet revealed their advertising strategies.
Earlier that Thursday:
This time, Elon Musk’s X/Twitter post has caused him to face backlash when he agreed with a user’s statement that Jews had a “hatred against whites.”
Following Hamas’ murderous attack on Israel on October 7, the tweet has drawn additional attention to X/Twitter, which Musk owns, and the proliferation of antisemitic tweets.
Following a Media Matters investigation that revealed big businesses have their ads adjacent to messages endorsing the Nazi party, IBM declared that it was halting its advertising on the site.
A corporate representative told the Financial Times and other media, “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.”
Other articles on Media Matters included advertisements for Bravo, Oracle, and Xfinity adjacent to pro-Hitler and pro-Nazi content.
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X/Twitter, commented this afternoon, perhaps attempting to contain her anger: “X’s position has consistently been quite clear that discrimination against all people should end immediately. I believe it’s something we can and should all agree upon. Regarding this platform, X has also made it quite apparent that we are working to stop prejudice and antisemitism. It’s nasty and wrong, and it has no place in this world. Complete halt.
Yaccarino has been attempting to persuade sponsors that Twitter and X are secure venues for their advertisements. “We’re always working to protect the public conversation,” the writer said on Tuesday.
However, Musk’s Wednesday remark heightened an old antisemitic cliche on the great replacement hypothesis.
“The exact kind of dialectical hatred against Whites that Jewish communities claim they want people to stop using against them,” a user said. I could care less about the slightest detail at this point regarding Jewish communities in the West realizing that the vast majority of minorities that advocate invading their nation don’t really like them. That’s the truth, right? You want it said to your face.
In response, Musk responded, “You have stated the true truth.”
“It is undeniably dangerous to use one’s influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories at a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world,” Musk’s article was criticized by Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.
Subsequently, Musk wrote a follow-up in an attempt to explain his article, saying, “The ADL unfairly targets most of the West, even though most of the West supports Israel and the Jewish people.” This is a result of their inability to condemn the minority groups who pose the greatest harm to them according to their own beliefs. Musk had threatened to sue ADL in the past.
John Kerry took Musk’s place at today’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit AI session, where he was supposed to speak. The organizers stated that Musk’s schedule conflict kept him from attending, and they declined his request to appear via video.
In an audit study published this week, the Center for Countering Digital Hate stated that, after one week, X/Twitter had not removed 196 of the 200 postings it had reported to the platform administrators for breaking the rules of service. Posts threatening violence against Muslims, Palestinians, and Jews were among the material, along with overtly antisemitic and anti-Muslim statements.