Elon Musk’s stance on free speech has been called into question after he supported an antisemitic campaign to ban the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from his social media site, X. Musk’s tweet, in which he suggested running a poll on the matter, came in response to a trending hashtag, #BanTheADL, promoted by an extremist pundit on Twitter. The Tesla CEO also liked a post from a hard-right YouTube influencer, Keith Woods, who claimed that the ADL was pressuring social media companies to restrict free speech. Musk further commented that the ADL had made efforts to suppress X/Twitter. Amidst the uproar caused by his tweet, Musk clarified that he is in support of free speech but firmly against any form of antisemitism.
The campaign to ban the ADL occurred after a meeting between X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, and the ADL’s President, Jonathan Greeblatt, where they discussed the platform’s moderation of hate speech. Greeblatt tweeted about their productive conversation and expressed his expectation that X would address hate more effectively on the platform. He also stated that his group will monitor the situation and credit Yaccarino and Musk if improvements are made, but also reserve the right to criticize until then.
In response to the calls for a ban, the ADL acknowledged the coordinated attack on their organization by antisemites, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, and trolls. They made no mention of Musk’s tweets in their response.
The longstanding feud between Musk and the ADL had escalated when Musk compared George Soros to the fictional character Magneto from X-Men, after Soros sold all his Tesla stock. The ADL condemned Musk’s statement as “dangerous” speech.
Overall, the controversy surrounding Musk’s tweets and his association with antisemitic views has raised concerns about his commitment to free speech and moderation on his social media platform, X.
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