White House criticises Elon Musk over 'hideous' antisemitic lie
The source of the picture is from Getty Images.
The White House has claimed that Elon Musk propagated an awful falsehood concerning Jewish individuals. This is due to the fact that the owner of X seemed to give a favorable response to a post on the platform that expressed antisemitic views.
Mr. Musk responded to a post on Wednesday that allegedly spread an antisemitic conspiracy theory and endorsed it as "real truth."
Musk has refuted allegations stating that his post was discriminatory against individuals of Jewish descent.
However, a representative from the White House expressed that his support of the article, which caused backlash on the internet, was not appropriate.
The White House representative Andrew Bates strongly denounces the promotion of messages inciting hatred towards Jewish people and racism.
He observed that the social media update which Mr. Musk reacted to was related to a theory of conspiracy that inspired the individual who murdered 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue in the year 2018.
Mr Bates stated that it is not okay to say the terrible lie that caused a lot of antisemitism in America, especially not a month after the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust. He was talking about the attack by Hamas on Israel that happened on 7 October.
Previously, Linda Yaccarino, the Chief Executive, shared on Twitter that their company has been very transparent regarding their actions to fight against prejudice towards Jewish people and discrimination in general. Any form of this kind of behavior is unacceptable, as it is negative and misaligned with what is right.
Mr. Musk made a statement on Wednesday in response to a post that expressed anti-immigrant views and accused Jewish communities of promoting animosity towards whites. He referred to his response as the "truth."
It seemed like a promotion of a prejudiced and discriminatory theory called "white genocide." This theory claims that Jewish individuals purposely plan to induce the influx of non-white individuals into Western nations to eliminate the white population.
Mr. Musk answered to a post that contained a certain language that has been previously utilized to defend brutal assaults on synagogues. Zahed Amanullah, a senior member at the Institute of Strategic Dialogue located in London, informed the BBC of this information.
The belief in a conspiracy theory caused a person to commit a mass killing. This person went into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 and killed 11 people who were worshipping.
This portion of the blog post features a picture from Getty Images.
The incident that occurred in the Tree of Life shooting holds the record for being the most fatal antisemitic assault in the history of the United States.
According to reports, Mr. Musk has denied accusations of being discriminatory towards Jewish people and clarified that his earlier remarks were not directed at the entire Jewish community but rather certain groups such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other unidentified "Jewish communities".
The head of ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, shared a statement stating that it is extremely risky to endorse and encourage anti-Semitic theories in a world where anti-Semitism is on the rise both in the US and globally.
There's some dispute going on about antisemitism, which is happening at the same time as some groups have decided to no longer purchase ads on X. This is because they've raised concerns about the presence of extremist material on the social platform, formerly known as Twitter.
After a media watchdog of left-leaning views released a report that IBM's advertising content was featured alongside posts that lauded Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, the company decided to cease its advertising expenses. It was later reported by Axios that Apple also decided to stop purchasing ads on the same platform.
On Thursday, X informed the BBC that advertisements are not intentionally situated adjacent to extremist material, and accounts that promote Nazi ideologies will not generate revenue from advertising. Additionally, individual posts will be tagged as "sensitive media."
The European Commission has instructed its departments to refrain from purchasing advertisements on X. This is due to worries regarding false information concerning the Israel-Hamas conflict. This information has been reported by Politico.
Mr Musk used the platform on Friday to criticize Media Matters and show his support for other posts that were critical of IBM and the media. However, he did not directly address any of his own previous statements.
The extremely wealthy person has stated multiple times some theories about conspiracy and has also criticized organizations such as the ADL and other groups that monitor social media for their negative responses to his adjustments to content control at X.
According to X, their brand safety measures are more effective compared to other social networks. Apparently, hate speech and extremism have decreased on the platform despite significant reductions in the safety team. However, some external organizations disagree with this statement and argue that under Mr. Musk's leadership, there has been an increase in hate speech and extremism.
At the beginning of this year, Mr. Musk made a clear statement that he would take legal action against the ADL. He believed that the ADL was trying to destroy his platform by wrongly accusing him of being against Semites. Moreover, he accused pressure groups for the fall in advertising revenue after he acquired the platform, rather than malicious information or extremist content.
CCDH submitted a request to eliminate the case on Thursday by utilizing California's anti-SLAPP - "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation" - legislation. They labeled the X lawsuit as a plan to control, frighten and halt communication.
Written by Chris Vallance with contributions from Chris Vallance.
