How an antisemitic post might cost Elon Musk $75 million

Elon Musk supporting an antisemitic post on his social media platform X is going to cost him millions of dollars. According to the New York Times report published on Friday, dozens of major brands, including Walt Disney and Warner Bros Discovery, have paused their marketing campaigns on the microblogging platform. As a result, the company could lose $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year. Let’s take a closer look. X losing major advertisers Internal documents viewed by The New York Times this week list more than 200 ad units of companies from the likes of Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, many of which have halted or are considering pausing their ads on the social network, the report said. X said on Friday $11 million in revenue was at risk and the exact figure fluctuated as some advertisers returned to the platform and others increased spending, the report says. Notably, advertisers have fled X since Musk bought it in October 2022 and reduced content moderation, resulting in a sharp rise in hate speech on the site, according to civil rights groups. The platform’s US ad revenue has declined at least 55 per cent year-over-year each month since Musk’s takeover, Reuters previously reported. The controversy X has struck back and sued Media Matters, alleging the organization defamed the platform with a report claiming that advertisements from major corporation such as Apple, IBM, Oracle and Bravo, were displayed alongside antisemitic and pro-Hitler content on Musk’s microblogging platform. The move came after major companies like Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Apple, Comcast and IBM pulled advertising from the platform, according to CNN. Initially responding to the report, the richest man in the world denied claims that he is antisemitic and termed the media watchdog group “evil.”

Media Matters is pure evil https://t.co/gIV1rHO9d7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2023

According to The Independent, Musk and other executives said that Media Matters’ study methodology for identifying the content that was affixed to firm advertisements did not accurately reflect how average users interacted with the site. An X representative told the outlet that the firm did not deliberately position the advertisements next to the postings made by the antisemitic accounts, which have since been demonetised, making it impossible for advertisements to appear on their profiles. The accounts haven’t been deleted, though. In the lawsuit filed in a US District Court in Texas, X claimed Media Matters “manipulated” the social media platform by using accounts that exclusively followed accounts for major brands or users known to produce fringe content, and “resorted to endlessly scrolling and refreshing” the feed until it found ads next to extremist posts. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Monday his office was opening an investigation into Media Matters and that he was “extremely troubled” by allegations that the group manipulated data on X, according to Reuters. Media Matters’ President Angelo Carusone called the lawsuit “frivolous” in an emailed statement and said it was “meant to bully X’s critics into silence.” “Media Matters stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court,” he added. Elon Musk’s antisemitic post Musk last week endorsed the assertion that Jewish communities incite “hatred against Whites” by agreeing with an antisemitic remark on X. The Tesla-owner faced backlash from the White House and others for engaging with an antisemitic conspiracy theory. “It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of Antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement to CNN. According to The Independent, Musk later responded to the accusations, saying “nothing could be further from the truth. I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.” For those unversed, this came after his scandal several days after the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, where he was forced to take down a post where he amplified an account that is widely accused of anti-Semitism and promotes unreliable information in its videos. With inputs from Reuters