Elon Musk Mulls Poll on Booting Anti-Defamation League Off X
09:21 GMT 03.09.2023 (Updated: 09:46 GMT 03.09.2023)
© AFP 2023 / ALAIN JOCARD
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Elon Musk and the Anti-Defamation League headed by Jonathan Greenblatt have been on a rollercoaster of mutually exchanged verbal barbs since last year, when the billionaire bought X/Twitter. After originally extolling Musk as an “amazing innovator”, Greenblatt later called for an ad boycott on the platform over an alleged “surge” in hate speech.
Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter) has proposed a poll to see whether users of the social media platform are amenable to having the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) booted off it.
“Perhaps we should run a poll on this?” Musk posted on Saturday, in response to one pundit pointing to the fact that #BanTheADL was trending.
Another commentator had argued on X that the growing trend was indicative of how people are done “with the ‘we’re labeling everything we don’t like as hateful/racist/dangerous/far-right’ BS,” and no longer fear the ADL’s “intimidation tactics".
Screengrab of post by Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter).
© Photo : elonmusk/X
As to the campaign on the social media platform, it was apparently ignited in the wake of a meeting between ADL president and former Obama administration official Jonathan Greenblatt, and X chief executive Linda Yaccarino. The encounter was ostensibly to address “rampant hate speech” on the site. After the meeting, Greenblatt tweeted that the conversation had been “very frank + productive”.
However, this tweet, in turn, ignited the hashtag #BanTheADL, with supporters claiming the group was stifling free speech.
Musk “liked” a post by YouTuber Keith Woods, which underscored that the ADL was “financially blackmailing social media companies into removing free speech on their platform”.
Screenshot of X post by Keith Woods.
© Photo : KeithWoodsYT/X
In response, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive said that the lobby group “tried very hard to strangle X/Twitter”.
Screenshot of X post by Elon Musk.
© Photo : elonmusk/X
Musk has had a running feud with ADL ever since the billionaire bought the platform then called Twitter in October 2022. Before the buyout was finalized, Greenblatt had nothing but praise for Musk, touting him as an “amazing entrepreneur and extraordinary innovator”.
But then it all went downhill. The ADL, and, specifically, Greenblatt, accused Musk of ostensibly adopting a lax attitude toward content moderation on Twitter. The tensions escalated after the group went after Elon Musk for likening American-Jewish financier George Soros to a comic-book supervillain. In May, Musk published a tweet in which he wrote that the Hungarian-born hedge fund manager peddling soft power "philanthropy" hates all of humanity and compared him with Magneto, the antagonist in the 'X-Men' series of mutant superhero comic books.
“He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity,” tweeted Musk.
Incidentally, Russia was the first country to move to stamp out Soros’ activities, banning his Open Society Foundations (OSF) and its affiliates in 2015.
In Russia, Soros' Open Society and Open Society Foundations have been recognized as undesirable organizations since 2015. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office said that Soros' organizations pose a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security of the state.
The ADL was immediately on the warpath, with Greenblatt noting that to see Musk comparing Soros to a Jewish supervillain was “not just distressing, it’s dangerous”. Greenblatt also felt that this could “embolden extremists”.
After such flack from the group, Musk quipped that the ADL ought to “just drop the ‘A’” from its name. The group is also noted for having urged a temporary ad boycott on X/Twitter.
In more recent developments, Musk confirmed X’s plans to file “legal action” to “stop” a reported attempt to crack down on free speech by politicians and Soros-funded NGOs using trumped-up data on the number of "hate incidents" in the British Isles.
“Can’t wait for discovery to start!” Musk posted.
Screenshot of X post by Elon Musk.
© Photo : elonmusk/X
