Several major companies have pulled advertising from X after Elon Musk promoted antisemitic comments on social media.
“You have told the truth.” Are these six words serving Elon Musk the biggest hit since he bought Twitter / X? It’s certainly more dangerous than the 2022 blue checkmark fiasco, as the idea does much more damage to Musk’s image and has proven to be just the move that has fueled several companies, including Disney, Apple, Warner Bros., and more to stop advertising on the social media platform.
The backlash comes from the aforementioned statement, which, in response to comments made by another user, has been labeled as endorsing antisemitism. Here is the tweet in question:
Conspiracy theories like this and Elon Musk’s promotion are disgusting enough in themselves, but Musk’s direct response explains his often-criticized public persona. Musk has been battling the Anti-Defamation League for months now, seeking lost revenue on their efforts to label antisemitic. In defense of his own opinion, Elon Musk would later write on X, “The ADL unfairly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jews and Israel. This is because they cannot, on their own, criticize the minority groups that are the main threat to them. It’s not right and it has to stop.”
Elon Musk and X will no doubt suffer a significant slowdown in revenue due to the likes of the aforementioned companies – in addition to Sony, Paramount, Lionsgate, Discovery, and IBM – shutting down advertising, with Apple being the biggest loser here. We will have to see how much of a blow this will deal to Musk, who seems to be already trying his version of backpedaling, as he would too – sometime after his companies’ toys and efforts to plug – write that it will stop. any accounts that promote genocide. And so, all bigots and antisemites were banned from X… Right? Isn’t that how Darren Aronofsky’s biopic ends?
Do you think a boycott by Disney, Apple and more will have a long-term effect on X? When do you expect them to start advertising again, if at all?
