X's biggest advertisers are cutting ties with the social media platform after owner Elon Musk agreed with a post that claimed Jewish people support "hatred against whites."
Apple, IBM, Disney, Comcast/NBC Universal, Lions Gate Entertainment, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Paramount have all confirmed that they are pausing or completely pulling advertisements on X, formerly known as Twitter, after a Media Matters report documented their ads appearing next to pro-Nazi content.
The report and subsequent advertiser exodus came after Musk was widely criticized for agreeing with a post pushing white-supremacist conspiracy theories, which stated in part: "Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them."
Musk replied: "You have said the actual truth."
After being called out by multiple users and organizations, including the White House, Musk doubled down and began attacking the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), accusing the Jewish advocacy group of pushing "de facto anti-white racism [and] anti-Asian racism."
Elon Musk threatens ADL with lawsuit
Elon Musk previously accused the ADL of “trying to kill” X. He threatened a lawsuit against the organization in September, alleging that X's recent decline in advertisement sales were the result of an ADL report from May that found more than 5,000 examples of “virulent anti-Semitism” in just one month from accounts that were not removed, or in some cases, reinstated.
Musk has since threatened a "thermonuclear lawsuit" against Media Matters. He has also denied claims that he is anti-Semitic, stating that "nothing could be further from the truth." He claimed that the report was a "fraudulent attack" on the company and free speech, despite the companies exercising their own First Amendment rights by choosing not to associate with the platform.
Media Matters president Angelo Carusone responded to Musk's claims over the weekend, saying in a statement: "Far from the free speech advocate he claims to be, Musk is a bully who threatens meritless lawsuits in an attempt to silence reporting that he even confirmed is accurate. Musk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified. If he does sue us, we will win."
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