Big Tech

Elon Musk threatens to sue civil rights group over anti-Semitism accusation

Campaign is to blame for most of $60m fall in advertising revenue, says owner of social media group X

Elon Musk has threatened to sue US civil rights group, the Anti-Defamation League, after accusing it of trying to 'kill' his social media platform, X. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Tue Sep 5 2023 - 18:31

Elon Musk has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) after accusing the US-based civil rights group that campaigns against anti-Semitism and bigotry of trying to “kill” his social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter.

He said the ADL was trying to shut down his company by “falsely accusing it and me of being anti-Semitic”.

In a series of posts on X, Mr Musk said advertising sales at the social media giant were down 60 per cent and “based on what we’ve heard from advertisers, ADL seems to be responsible for most of our revenue loss”.

“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!” Mr Musk tweeted.

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Alerted to a 2020 lawsuit in Colorado where the ADL was fined $10.5 million for defamation, Mr Musk responded: “Interesting. In our case, they would potentially be on the hook for destroying half the value of the company, so roughly $22 billion.”

Earlier in the summer, Mr Musk had said Twitter’s advertising business was on the upswing. “Almost all advertisers have come back,” Mr Musk said at that time.

He recently sued another anti-hate speech group, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, in a lawsuit accusing it of damaging X’s relationship with advertisers. CCDH has said it will fight the lawsuit and keep holding “Twitter’s feet to the fire”.

“ADL seems to be responsible for most of our revenue loss,” the businessman said. “Giving them maximum benefit of the doubt, I don’t see any scenario where they’re responsible for less than 10 per cent of the value destruction, so $4 billion.

The ADL describes itself as the world’s leading anti-hate organisation and says its mission is “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all”. – Guardian

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