Elon Musk, Ruiner of Twitter, May Sue Anti-Hate Group. Oh Really?

The billionaire calls a possible lawsuit "ironic." We agree.

Elon Musk, whose greatest hits of the past year have been dropping Tesla prices, rebranding Twitter to X and running the once gold standard for social media appsย into the ground, is now threatening sue the Anti-Defamation League on the grounds that the organizationโ€™s claims of antisemitism amount to slander that has prompted advertisers to flee the company at alarming rates.

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If that feels like a bit much to swallow, itโ€™s with good reason. Musk took over Twitter with promises to promote free speech, which in-part meant bringing back folks who had been banned for hate speech (Kanye West) and using the platform to help foment a literal coup attempt (Donald Trump).

Thereโ€™s a good argument that if Twitter wasnโ€™t already a cesspool of bigotry before Musk took over, itโ€™s been headed in that direction ever since. The Washington Post reported an explosion in usage of the n-word on the platform just hours after Muskโ€™s $44 billion takeover was completed and, bringing us back to the ADL, another study found that antisemitic posts on the platformย skyrocketed as well. If youโ€™re an organization in the business of eradicating hate speech, you might take notice of things like that. When that business is specifically rooting out anti-Black racism or, in the ADLโ€™s case, antisemitism, you might take action.

Musk, though, sees it another way: as the ADL trying wrongfully trying to harm his business.

โ€œOur US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (thatโ€™s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!โ€ Musk wrote, on his platform over the weekend, adding that ADL is โ€œtrying to killโ€ X by โ€œfalsely accusing it & [him] of being anti-Semitic.โ€

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1698755938541330907?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

โ€œIf this continues, we will have no choice but to file a defamation suit against, ironically, the โ€˜Anti-Defamationโ€™ League. If they lose the defamation suit, we will insist that they drop the the โ€œantiโ€ part of their name,โ€ he stated.

And in case youโ€™re wondering if this is a one-off, Musk or his companies have also been accused of belittling and debasing his Black employees at both Twitter and Tesla repeatedly.

In a statement originally reported by CBS News, an ADL spokesperson said that Muskโ€™s threat of a lawsuit is a predictable form of retaliation

โ€œADL is unsurprised yet undeterred that antisemites, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and other trolls have launched a coordinated attack on our organization. Such insidious efforts donโ€™t daunt us,โ€ they stated.

Straight From The Root

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