IBM Suspends Ads on X/Twitter Due to Placement of Ads Next to Pro-Nazi Content; Elon Musk under fire for amplifying anti-Semitic posts
Elon Musk has once again faced fury over one of his X/Twitter posts, this time agreeing with a user’s comment that Jews have a “hate for whites.”
The tweet appears to draw more attention to X/Twitter, which Musk owns, and the spread of anti-Semitic posts following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
IBM announced it was suspending advertising on the platform after a Media Matters report found that ads for major brands were placed next to posts promoting the Nazi Party.
“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,” an company spokesperson said in a statement to the Financial Times and other media.
Other posts appeared on Media Matters showing ads for Bravo, Oracle and Xfinity alongside pro-Nazi and pro-Nazi content.
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X/Twitter, was clearly trying to do damage control this afternoon as she wrote: “X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should generally STOP – I think that’s something we and all of us can they should agree to this. Regarding this platform, X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat anti-Semitism and discrimination. It has no place anywhere in the world – it is ugly and wrong. Dot.”
However, Musk’s post yesterday reinforced a long-standing anti-Semitic trope about the Great Replacement Theory.
The user wrote: “Jewish communities spread exactly the kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim they want people to stop using against them. I am deeply uninterested in getting into the slightest nonsense right now about the Western Jewish population, which has come to the disturbing realization that these hordes of minorities who support the flooding of their country don’t much like them. You want the truth told to your face, this is it.
Musk’s response was: “You told the whole truth.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote of Musk’s post: “At a time when anti-Semitism is exploding in America and rising around the world, using your influence to validate and promote anti-Semitic theories is undoubtedly dangerous.”
Musk later tried to defend his position, writing: “The ADL baselessly attacks most of the West, even though most of the West supports the Jewish people and Israel. This is because they cannot, based on their own assumptions, criticize the minority groups that constitute their main threat.” Musk has previously threatened to sue the ADL.
Musk was scheduled to speak at a session on artificial intelligence at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit today, but was replaced by John Kerry. Organizers said a scheduling change prevented his participation and declined his offer to speak remotely.
