Elon Musk’s credentials as a “free speech absolutist” got here into query over the weekend after the X owner elevated an antisemitic campaign to ban the Anti-Defamation League from his social media site.
“Perhaps we should always run a poll on this?” Musk tweeted on Saturday, responding to a notorious extremist pundit, who noted that #BanTheADL was trending on the location formerly often called Twitter.
The Tesla CEO made the eyebrow-raising tweet after he also liked a post from hard-right YouTube influencer Keith Woods, who said the ADL is “financially blackmailing social media firms into removing free speech on their platform.”
Musk replied to the tweet from Woods, saying that the “ADL has tried very hard to strangle X/Twitter.”
On Monday, Musk tried to calm the uproar over his tweet.
“To be super clear, I’m pro free speech, but against antisemitism of any kind” Musk said.
Elon Musk suggested that he might remove a outstanding civil rights group from his social media site, X.AFP via Getty Images
The campaign to ban the ADL got here a day after a gathering last Wednesday between X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino and ADL’s President Jonathan Greeblatt over the social media site’s moderation of hate speech.
Greelblatt tweeted that he had a “very frank + productive conversation” with Yaccarino about “where X “must go to deal with hate effectively on the platform.”
Greenblatt also said his group might be “vigilant and provides her and @ElonMusk credit if the service gets higher …and reserve the appropriate to call them out until it does.”
Anti-Defamation League president Steven Greenblatt has tussled with Musk over hate speech on the X platform.Getty Images for The Asian American Foundation
The ADL responded to calls for a ban by saying it’s “unsurprised yet undeterred that anti-semites, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and other trolls have launched a coordinated attack on our organization. One of these thing is nothing recent.”
The group made no mention of Musk’s tweets in its response.
Recent X CEO, Linda Yaccarino, met with ADL president Steven Greenblatt to debate the group’s concerns over hate speech on the platform. Getty Images for The Female Quotient
The feud between Musk and the ADL has raged since shortly after he bought Twitter for $44 billion last OctoberIt reached a crescendo in May when the mogul likened George Soros to X-Men supervillain Magneto following the controversial Democratic donor’s decision to dump his entire stake of Tesla stock.
Musk said Soros “hates humanity,” resulting in the ADL to accuse Musk of “dangerous” speech.