Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter (Now called X), has announced that his microblogging company will file a lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), over accusations of antisemitism that cost the company roughly $22 billion.
Musk disclosed that he deemed it fit to clear the company’s name on the matter of antisemitism, due to the negative impacts it has had on the platform.
He added that based on the information he got from advertisers on X, ADL seems to be responsible for most of the company’s revenue loss, as most of these advertisers avoid controversy at all costs.
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In a tweet on X, he wrote,
“To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony!”
Replying to a user who wrote that this wouldn’t be the first time the Defamation League would be found to have defamed people.
Musk replied,
“Interesting. In our case, they would potentially be on the hook for destroying half the value of the company, so roughly $22 billion.”
In a subsequent tweet, he wrote,
“Based on what we’ve heard from advertisers, ADL seems to be responsible for most of our revenue loss. Giving them the maximum benefit of the doubt, I don’t see any scenario where they’re responsible for less than 10% of the value destruction, so ~$4 billion.
“Document discovery of all communications between the ADL and advertisers will tell the full story. Advertisers avoid controversy, so all that is needed for ADL to crush our US & European ad revenue is to make unfounded accusations. They have much less power in Asia, so our ad revenue there is still strong.
“This “controversy” causes advertisers to “pause”, but that pause is permanent until ADL gives the green light, which they will not do without us agreeing to secretly suspend or shadow ban any account they don’t like. That is the relationship they’ve had with X/Twitter for many years. Presumably, they have that with all Western search or social media organs.”
Musk has on countless occasions disclosed that he is pro-free speech, but against antisemitism of any kind. He further made a shocking revelation that since he acquired X last year October, the ADL has been trying to kill the platform by falsely accusing him and the company of being anti-Semitic.
According to Musk, X US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by ADL, who he said almost succeeded in killing the platform.
Musk’s recent tweets against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) are coming after the hashtag #BanTheADL, trended on X last week. The trending hashtag and Musk’s engagement with it, began hours after the ADL said it had a productive conversation with X CEO Linda Yaccarino about fighting hate speech on the platform.
It is worth noting that Antisemitism was a problem on Twitter (Now called X) before Musk took over the company. Since his takeover reports of hate speech have abounded.
Recall that in May 2023, Elon Musk was accused of fueling anti-Semitism after comparing George Soros to the Jewish supervillain Magneto and claiming that the billionaire philanthropist “hates humanity”.
His comment sparked a wave of criticism, with Israel’s foreign ministry and the Jewish non-governmental organization Anti-Defamation League (ADL) accusing Musk of stoking anti-Semitism.
Musk who has always been vocal, defended his tweet, stating that his opinion doesn’t make him antisemitic, which he described himself as “a pro-semite. He added that he will continue to voice his often controversial opinions on the site.
niggards