Elon Musk suggested that his social media platform, X, may sue the Anti Defamation League, blaming the organization for lost advertising revenue since he bought the company then known as Twitter.
“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!,” the billionaire tweeted Monday afternoon.
That post followed an earlier one that said, “To be super clear, I’m pro free speech, but against anti-Semitism of any kind.”
“Since the acquisition, The @ADL has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic,” Musk posted in a follow up. He said US advertising revenue is still down 60% since he bought the platform in October, “ primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!“
In August, Musk sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a hate speech watchdog, accused it of making “false” claims after it found that bigot speech rose dramatically following Musk’s buyout of the platform.
The company did not immediately say whether a suit has already been filed or is being prepared in response to a query Tuesday morning.
Musk also posted links to two reports, one from a 2020 Tablet Magazine story with the headline “The Mind-Bendingly Insane Completely Craven, Utterly Unconscionable Redemption of Al Sharpton,” with the subhead, “You’re not confused, the ADL is becoming as bad as you think.”
The piece points to the organization as a major backer Sharpton despite the activist’s questionable history, including his involvement in riots in Crown Heights that left a young Jewish man dead. It contains a lengthy take-down of the ADL since former Obama aide Jonathan Greenblatt took over the organization in 2015.
“Interesting article,” was Musk’s only comment.
Likewise, he said only “Interesting documentary” when he posted a link to a 2019 NPR review of a film by Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir that looked at Abraham H. Foxman, the former national director of the ADL, nor director emeritus.
“Depending on which parts of the film you respond to, Foxman has either dedicated his life to making the world safe for the Jewish people or reaped a handsome living by stoking fears that hatred of Jews — far from being extinguished by the defeat of the Nazis — is alive and kicking all over the globe, including in the United States, long regarded as a safe haven for Jews and a staunch defender of Israel,” the review states, in part.
Musk later posted a link to a 2020 Politico story that points to the ADL as one of the leaders of an ad boycott mounted against Facebook.
“The Facebook caved to far left pressure groups and now allows them to silently dictate policy in exchange for ad money,” Musk commented.
On Saturday, Musk mused about running a poll related to a post that used the hashtag #BantheADL. “The ADL has done a lot of good work in prior decades, but has been overzealous in recent years & hijacked by woke mind virus,” the tech mogul said.
The ADL told NBC News Monday that as a matter of policy it does not comment on legal threats.
“Such insidious efforts don’t daunt us,” an ADL statement said. “Instead, they drive us to be unflinching in our commitment to fight hate in all its forms and ensure the safety of Jewish communities and other marginalized groups.”