Elon Musk, the wealthy proprietor of inspired.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Two advertisers, IBM and the European Commission, announced they were pausing spending on X (formerly known as Twitter), citing reports of escalating hate speech, including a report that some ads were Nazi-Esque next to related content. The White House also released a statement deeming Musk’s remarks “unacceptable.”
“We denounce in the strongest terms this abhorrent propaganda of anti-Semitism and racist animosity, which contradicts our fundamental principles as Americans,” declared a White House spokesperson on Friday.
The setback occurred as Musk brought in former NBC executive Linda Yaccarino to persuade major brands to come back to the social media service, a task that appears to face added obstacles following Musk’s comments.
Bloomberg News journalist Ayesha Counts recently informed CBS News that advertising on X dropped by 60% in September and revenue plummeted. In July, Musk indicated that the company’s advertising revenue had dropped by 50%, while also acknowledging its substantial debt burden.
According to SimilarWeb, global web traffic to the site fell by 14% in September. The market research firm stated in a recent report that total traffic on Has gone.
Musk’s endorsement of anti-Semitic viewpoints associated with white supremacists has also dismayed stakeholders of the electric car manufacturer Tesla that he founded. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told CBS MoneyWatch that Tesla investors are “displeased and disheartened” by this latest controversy.
“It was a somber day for Musk and Tesla with this X post reverberating around the world,” Ives conveyed in an email. ,[L]Longstanding shareholders are questioning what’s next? “We don’t anticipate any change in Musk’s leadership, but it’s a dark outlook that many won’t forget.”
Yaccarino attempted to downplay the aftermath of Musk’s comments on Thursday, stating in a post on – This is ugly and wrong. Full stop.”
X’s approach has always been clear that discrimination should be stopped by everyone – I think it is something we can agree and everyone should agree. When it comes to this platform – X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat anti-Semitism and…
– Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) 16 November 2023
Nonetheless, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskowitz wrote on threads that Yaccarino should urge Musk to resign from X. “She confronts her most significant trial yet as she decides whether to dismiss her anti-Semitic CTO or risk losing even more advertisers,” he wrote, alluding to Musk’s role as Chief Technology Officer at X.
Musk’s “actual veracity”
Musk, the wealthiest individual globally, responded on Thursday by expressing solidarity with an anti-Semitic post on the platform and describing it as “the actual truth.”
The original
Musk remarked, “You articulated the actual truth” while also censuring the Anti-Defamation League, an advocacy group that works to counter hate against Jewish people. Musk tweeted, “The ADL unfairly chastises the majority of the West despite the fact that the majority of the West supports the Jewish people and Israel. This is because they are unable, in line with their principles, to criticize minority groups who are the principal threat to them.”
The original Among those who supported was convicted murderer Robert Bowers, who expressed anger against Jews online before gunning down 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018.
Furthermore, mounting tensions over the Israel–Hamas war have led to clashes on American college campuses over alleged anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim incidents. Data released by the ADL revealed a substantial uptick in anti-Semitic incidents across the US since the conflict began.
Account of advertisements alongside Nazi material
Media Matters indicated in a report this week that major advertisers including IBM, Apple, Oracle, and Comcast’s Xfinity had their ads appear next to Nazi-themed content on X. In response to the report, IBM stated it was suspending advertising on the platform.
Meanwhile, Musk censured Media Matters on Twitter. “Media Matters is a malevolent organization,” he wrote on Thursday night.
The European Commission conveyed on Friday that it was halting advertising on X as well as all other social media networks, pointing to a recent “alarming augmentation in disinformation and hate speech,” though it clarified the decision was specific. It was not formally about his presence on X.
A spokesperson stated, “This concerns advertising campaigns – for these, we regularly scrutinize and assess the media environment for our campaigns in light of our communication objectives.”
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Source: www.cbsnews.com
