White House condemns Elon Musk for spreading 'hideous' antisemitic lie (updated)

Lions Gate Entertainment

17/11/2023 18:05

(Adds details on dropped advertisers in paragraphs 2 and 8,
background)
       Nov 17 (Reuters) - The White House on Friday accused
Elon Musk of repeating a "hideous" antisemitic lie on his social
media site X this week, calling it an "abhorrent promotion of
antisemitic and racist hate" that "runs against our core values
as Americans."
    The White House statement follows decisions by at least two
more major corporations to pull their advertising dollars from X
after watchdog Media Matters found ads by IBM  IBM.N , Apple
 AAPL.O  and others were placed alongside content promoting
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. 
        Responding to Musk's post on Wednesday, the White House
condemned what it called an "abhorrent promotion of antisemitic
and racist hate" that "runs against our core values as
Americans." 
    Musk on Wednesday endorsed a post on X that falsely claimed
Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people, saying
the user who referenced the "Great Replacement" conspiracy
theory was speaking "the actual truth." 
    That conspiracy theory holds that Jewish people and leftists
are engineering the ethnic and cultural replacement of white
populations with non-white immigrants that will lead to a "white
genocide."
    "It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie ... one month
after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the
Holocaust," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said,
referring to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. 
    Representatives for Musk and X on Friday again declined to
comment on Musk's post on Wednesday.
        
    Lions Gate Entertainment Corp
      LGFa.N  on Friday said it was pausing its X ads, while
Axios reported Apple, the world's largest company by market
value, was also pausing its ads. IBM  IBM.N  on Thursday halted
its advertising on the platform. 
    "When it comes to this platform - X has also been extremely
clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and
discrimination. There's no place for it anywhere in the world -
it's ugly and wrong. Full stop," X CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote on
Thursday.
    Advertisers have fled the site since Musk bought it in
October 2022 and reduced content moderation, resulting in a
sharp rise in hate speech on X, civil rights groups have said. 
    Antisemitism has been on the rise in recent years in the
United States and worldwide. Following the outbreak of war
between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas after last
month's attack, antisemitic incidents in the United States rose
by nearly 400% from the year-earlier period, according to the
Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit that fights antisemitism. 
    Musk, chief executive of electric vehicle maker Tesla
 TSLA.O  and founder of rocket company SpaceX, has blamed the
Anti-Defamation League for the ongoing drop in advertisers
without offering any evidence. 

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'Ridiculous' US lawsuit by Musk's X Corp should be dismissed
-hate speech watchdog - Reuters News     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N3CI1OO
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 (Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw, Steve Holland and Sheila Deng;
Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by David Gaffen, Daniel Wallis
and Cynthia Osterman)
 ((jarrett.renshaw@thomsonreuters.com; (646) 223-6193;))