IBM said Thursday it had immediately suspended all promoting on Elon Musk-owned X after a report found its ads were placed next to content promoting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
The report comes a day after Musk endorsed an antisemitic post on X that falsely claimed members of the Jewish community were stoking hatred against white people.
Media watchdog Media Matters said it found that corporate advertisements by IBM, Apple, Oracle and Comcast’s Xfinity were being placed alongside antisemitic content.
“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we now have immediately suspended all promoting on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation,” IBM said in a press release.
Apple, Oracle and Xfinity didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
X said its system doesn’t intentionally place brands “actively next to this sort of content,” and the content cited by Media Matters would not give you the chance to become profitable off its posts.
Musk’s Wednesday comments on the social media platform will not be the primary time he has engaged in discussions that reference antisemitic tropes or conspiracy theories. X declined to comment and referred to a press release from CEO Linda Yaccarino posted Thursday.
“In the case of this platform – X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There’s no place for it anywhere on the earth – it’s ugly and flawed. Full stop,” said Yaccarino.
On Wednesday, after being questioned by one other user about targeting all Jewish people, Musk attacked the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit that works to fight antisemitism, who he has accused previously without evidence of being liable for the drop in promoting on X.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt responded on X that “at a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging all over the world, it’s indisputably dangerous to make use of one’s influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories.”
Advertisers have fled the location since Musk bought it and reduced content moderation which has resulted in a dramatic increase in hate speech on X, civil rights groups have said.
Reuters reported in October that monthly US ad revenue at X has declined at the least 55% year-over-year every month since Musk bought the corporate in October 2022, citing third-party data provided to Reuters.
Musk can also be CEO of electrical carmaker Tesla, which has been hit by several lawsuits that allege rampant racial or sexual harassment of employees.
Antisemitism has been on the rise lately in the US and worldwide. Following the outbreak of war between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, antisemitic incidents in the US rose by nearly 400% from the year-earlier period, the ADL said.
