“You have said the actual truth.” Will it be these six words that serve Elon Musk the biggest blow since buying Twitter / X? It’s certainly more serious than the blue checkmark fiasco of 2022, as the comment does far more damage to Musk’s image and has proven to be just the move that has prompted a number of companies, including Disney, Apple, Warner Bros., and more to pause advertising on the social media platform.
The backlash stems from the aforementioned statement, which, as a response to remarks made by another user, is being labeled as endorsing antisemitism. Here is the tweet in question:
Conspiracy theories such as this and Elon Musk encouraging them are abhorrent enough in their own right but Musk’s direct response further outlines his oft-criticized public persona. Musk has been clashing with the Anti-Defamation League for months now, pinning lost revenue on their efforts tohim antisemitic. In defense of his own comment, Elon Musk would later write on X, “The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel. This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat. It is not right and needs to stop.”
Elon Musk and X will undoubtedly be facing a serious slowdown in revenue due to the likes of the aforementioned companies — in addition to Sony, Paramount, Lionsgate, Discovery, and IBM — halting advertising, with Apple being the most major loss here. We will have to see exactly how big of a blow this will deal to Musk, who does already seems to be attempting his version of backpedaling, as he would also — sometime after plugging the toys and endeavors of his companies — write that he would suspend any accounts encouraging genocide. And like that, all bigots and antisemites were banned from X…Right? Isn’t that how Darren Aronofsky’s biopic will end?
Do you think boycotts from Disney, Apple and more will have a long-term impact on X? When do you expect them, if at all, to start advertising again?