After killing a controversial but beloved bird, Elon Musk has gone down in history as the man who destroyed Twitter and built up X.
Following when he fully acquired the social media app in October of 2022, Musk gave Twitter an overhaul, rebranding it as X. While this in itself caused quite an uproar, Musk has begun to face backlash due to paywalls and a variety of other changes to the app.
However, in the previous days, the issues that Musk has been facing have taken a serious turn. Many civil rights and anti-hate groups have been accusing Musk of having anti-Semitic sentiments due to his unbanning of users, particularly of those who were banned for posting hate against Jewish people, as well as only taking down 28% of posts flagged as anti-semetic.
Meanwhile, statistically, X was beginning to take a turn for the worse. As of his official ownership of X,
the advertising revenue has dropped 60%, which is a number that Musk blames those who accuse him of bigoted behavior for, citing that advertisers have said that pressures from several organizations have led them to decrease their involvement.
Although several groups have been pointing out the forgiveness that Musk has for hate against minority groups, the Anti-Defamation League has taken the vanguard when publicly releasing evidence that supports the claims that Musk has been far too lenient with hate posting. Unfortunately for the League, this also means that they are taking the brunt of Musk’s counterattacks.
Ironically, Musk has claimed that he plans to sue the Anti-Defamation League for defamation of both him and his platform. Additionally, on Saturday, Sept. 2, Musk posted that he should “run a poll” on whether or not to ban the ADL on X.
While Musk claims to be for the people and free speech, attempting to prove his point by considering allowing his followers to decide whether or not the ADL should be banned, he is creating nothing short of anarchy on X. His claims that the ADL is promoting censorship are only proving his hypocrisy as he attempts to ban this very same organization for revealing the questionable passes that Musk has given to hateful posts.
It is the responsibility of companies to make sure that all of their users are protected—both their safety and their speech.”
Hate and free speech are two separate categories that Musk seems to be having a difficult time distinguishing between. While there is a gray area on the matter that many platforms must question with each action they take to promote a healthy environment, Musk lets those who have previously been banned on Twitter run free.
The internet should be a safe place for everyone, and that includes people of all ethnicities, religions, sexualities, genders, and abilities. It is the responsibility of companies to make sure that all of their users are protected—both their safety and their speech. So, in order to maintain this balance, it is unacceptable to give passes to hate speech.
Musk has stated time and time again that he has no ill intent towards those of Jewish descent and doesn’t promote hate, but his lack of responsibility for offensive content does nothing to back up his words.
As of now, all actions against the ADL are solely threats, but Musk doesn’t seem to be getting out of hot water with X any time soon.
