Elon Musk announced on X that he plans to sue the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). In response to learning that the head of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt has called for Tucker Carlson to be deplatformed and called Carlson an “obvious antisemite,” Musk shared, “Tucker is welcome to join our suit”.
Tucker is welcome to join our suit
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2023
Before he announced on X his intent to sue the ADL Musk shared:
“To be super clear, I’m pro free speech, but against anti-Semitism of any kind”
To be super clear, I’m pro free speech, but against anti-Semitism of any kind
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
He then elaborated further:
“Since the acquisition, The @ADL has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic. Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!”
Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
A few hours later Musk announced:
“To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony!”
To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
X user ALX responded to Musk’s announcement with:
“Wouldn’t be the first time the Defamation League would be found to have defamed people”
Musk responded:
“Interesting. In our case, they would potentially be on the hook for destroying half the value of the company, so roughly $22 billion.”
Interesting.
In our case, they would potentially be on the hook for destroying half the value of the company, so roughly $22 billion.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
X user DrKnowItAll questioned Musk:
“I’ve not seen anything related to this up until recently. Are they, alone, seriously responsible for destroying half the value of the company? I won’t ask for details (lawyers and all) but I’m very interested to find out what the heck has been going on when the time comes.”
Musk answered:
“Based on what we’ve heard from advertisers, ADL seems to be responsible for most of our revenue loss. Giving them maximum benefit of the doubt, I don’t see any scenario where they’re responsible for less than 10% of the value destruction, so ~$4 billion. Document discovery of all communications between The ADL and advertisers will tell the full story.”
Based on what we’ve heard from advertisers, ADL seems to be responsible for most of our revenue loss.
Giving them maximum benefit of the doubt, I don’t see any scenario where they’re responsible for less than 10% of the value destruction, so ~$4 billion.
Document discovery of…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
Tesla Owners Silicon Valley account then asked:
“Are advertisers willing to come back when you tell them the truth”
Musk explained:
“Advertisers avoid controversy, so all that is needed for ADL to crush our US & European ad revenue is to make unfounded accusations. They have much less power in Asia, so our ad revenue there is still strong. This “controversy” causes advertisers to “pause”, but that pause is permanent until ADL gives the green light, which they will not do without us agreeing to secretly suspend or shadowban any account they don’t like. That is the relationship they’ve had with X/Twitter for many years. Presumably, they have that with all western search or social media orgs.”
Advertisers avoid controversy, so all that is needed for ADL to crush our US & European ad revenue is to make unfounded accusations. They have much less power in Asia, so our ad revenue there is still strong.
This “controversy” causes advertisers to “pause”, but that pause is…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
Greenblatt shared on X on August 30th that he had a sit-down with X CEO Linda Yaccarino. While Greenblatt called it a “productive conversation” it appears that Yaccarino may have not seen it the same way by Musk’s revelation of the lawsuit.
“I had a very frank + productive conversation with @LindayaX yesterday about @X, what works and what doesn’t, and where it needs to go to address hate effectively on the platform. I appreciated her reaching out and I’m hopeful the service will improve. @ADL will be vigilant and give her and @ElonMusk credit if the service gets better… and reserve the right to call them out until it does.”
I had a very frank + productive conversation with @LindayaX yesterday about @X, what works and what doesn't, and where it needs to go to address hate effectively on the platform. I appreciated her reaching out and I'm hopeful the service will improve. @ADL will be vigilant and…
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) August 30, 2023
We will see where this goes from here, how quickly Musk and X act, and if Carlson will join in the suit or not.
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