Why is X owner Elon Musk considering suing ADL?
Elon Musk has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League, in a twist of irony, claiming the organization is defaming him and his social media platform.
When Elon Mush took over Twitter, now rebranded X, advertisers slashed their spending to promote their brands on the social media platform. They feared potential chaos that could be unleashed by the free speech advocate promising to reinstate the accounts banned for promoting hate.
Nearly a year since he walked through the Twitter headquarters’ front door carrying a sink, ad revenues are still down the drain some 60 percent. The billionaire is now blaming the social media platform’s financial woes on the Anti-Defamation League.
In a spat of recent posts on X, Musk claimed: “Since the acquisition, The @ADL has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic.”
The result of which has been advertisers staying away and according to a follow-up post, they aren’t coming back primarily because of pressure from ADL. “So they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!” he posted.
“To be super clear, I’m pro free speech, but against anti-Semitism of any kind,” Musk added.
Why is X owner Elon Musk considering suing ADL?
Organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League have been drawing attention to an increase in hate speech on Musk’s social media platform since he finally agreed to fork over the original $44 billion he agreed to in the spring of 2022. Musk says that “it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against” the ADL in order to “clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism.”
X’s owner finished the post by adding “Oh the irony!”
But the non-profit whose mission is “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all” isn’t the only one that has been sounding the alarm. Studies conducted by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) have also found that hate speech has been soaring on the platform.
Musk sues hate speech watchdog
The CCDH for its part is facing a lawsuit filed recently accusing the hate speech watchdog of making “false” claims. In the court filing by X, it says that CCDH used “flawed methodologies to advance incorrect, misleading narratives” in a report published in June.
Last month, in a letter to the organization, X Corp said that the “troubling and baseless claims” appear to be “calculated to harm Twitter generally, and its digital advertising business specifically.”