Elon Musk has come out to stop the leak, after a string of large companies such as Comcast, Apple, Disney and IBM announced that they will stop buying ads on X (formerly Twitter) due to complaints of antisemitism and fascism both from the platform and from Musk.
The crisis started last Wednesday when Musk replied to a post by saying, "you have said the actual truth." The original post stated that Jews who stood up against antisemitism engaged in the "exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them."
The media, multiple companies and the White House criticized Musk, calling his rhetoric antisemitic. Musk responded on Friday with a series of tweets in support of the Jewish community, while commentators like Ben Shapiro and Mike Cernovich came to his defense.
This Saturday Musk doubled down, announcing that "the split second court opens on Monday" he will file a "thermonuclear lawsuit" against the left-wing group Media Matters and all those who colluded in the "fraudulent attack" against his company. Throughout the week, Media Matters posted messages accusing the social media platform of placing advertisements from companies such as Oracle, Apple and IBM next to pro-Nazi, denialist and white nationalist content.
X has been placing ads for brands like Amazon, NBA Mexico, NBCUniversal, and Action Network on white nationalist hashtags. https://t.co/Igt5FxOcd3 pic.twitter.com/brSaT9fr7X
— Eric Hananoki (@ehananoki) November 17, 2023
Media Matters also claimed that since Musk has taken over, the company has reinstated "numerous accounts" belonging to "bigots and paid far-right extremists." In another article, it promised to post an updated list after learning the results of its findings.
To the courts
X responded the the Media Matters article and other mainstream media outlets who accused the company of misleading advertisers by saying, "Above everything, including profit, X works to protect the public’s right to free speech."
But for speech to be truly free, we must also have the freedom to see or hear things that some people may consider objectionable.
After criticizing the methodology of the study carried out by Media Matters, they reiterated their commitment to freedom of expression and said, "If you’re really in on protecting free speech, then we all need to protect it completely."
The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company pic.twitter.com/55vl7PspaQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2023
