He Elon Musk’s support for an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory unleashed a storm on the social network (formerly Twitter), which until this Friday has cost him departure of several advertisers from the platformincluding technology giants IBM and Appleas well as the condemnation of the White House.
Referring to a post by Musk on X in which he endorses an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, the White House spokesperson, Andrew Batessaid it was unacceptable to repeat such a “dreadful lie”.
“We condemn in the strongest terms this abhorrent promotion of anti-Semitic and racist hatredwhich goes against our core values as Americans,” Bates said.
“We all have a responsibility to unite people against hate and the obligation to speak out against anyone who attacks the dignity of their fellow Americans and compromises the safety of our communities.”
The White House reaction referred to a post by Musk in which the controversial Tesla and SpaceX mogul responded to an anti-Semitic post on X with the words: “You told the real truth.”
The White House and US media have perceived the original publication as a reference to an old conspiracy theory between the white supremacists about what Jews have a secret plan to bring in illegal immigrants in order to weaken the white majorities.
The idea was promoted, among others, by who, in 2018, a synagogue in the city of Pittsburgh was shotmurdering 11 people.
“It is unacceptable to repeat at any time the horrible lie behind the most fatal act of anti-Semitism in American history.let alone a month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Bates said, referring to the attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Israel.
In parallel, a group of 164 “Jewish leaders”, including rabbis, artists and academics of “diverse ideologies”, issued a statement denouncing “anti-Semitism in X”, accusing Musk of “propagating it” and demanding that these large companies stop financing him.
Apple and IBM withdraw their advertising from X
The controversy caused by Elon Musk is also added to a report from the media control organization, Media Matterswhich maintains that Corporate ads from IBM, Apple, Oracle and Comcast’s Xfinity appeared alongside anti-Semitic content.
IBM said on Thursday it had immediately suspended all advertising on Xafter a report found that their ad had been placed next to content that promoted Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.
“IBM does not tolerate hate speech or discrimination and has immediately suspended all advertising on X while it investigates this totally unacceptable situation,” IBM said in a statement.
Likewise, Apple, Lionsgate and institutions such as the European Commission have decided in the last few hours to suspend their advertising on X.
According to the media Axios, Apple’s decision, which is one of the big advertisers on Xoccurs after the controversy caused by this interaction by Musk and also by the positioning of the iPhone maker’s ads near “far-right” content.
Apple, Oracle and Xfinity did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters..
On Wednesday, after being questioned by a user for addressing all Jews, Musk attacked the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a non-profit organization that works to fight anti-Semitismwhom he has previously accused without evidence of be responsible for the fall in advertising in X.
Likewise, Musk, in a message on his social network after the publication of the Media Matters article, said that “It is an evil organization“.
X said that your system does not intentionally place flags “actively next to this type of content”and that the one cited by Media Matters could no longer make money from his publications.
X declined to comment, referring to a statement from CEO Linda Yaccarino released Thursday.
“As far as this platform is concerned – X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat anti-Semitism and discrimination. There is no place for it anywhere in the world: it is ugly and wrong. And that’s it,” Yaccarino said.