Elon Musk Threatens To Sue The Anti-Defamation League Over Lost Revenue On X

Elon Musk has vowed to file a lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for allegedly “trying to kill” his social media platform X.

X platform and Mr. Musk were both “falsely accused” of being antisemitic by the ADL, according to Mr. Musk, which resulted in a significant decline in the social media platform’s advertising revenue.

The billionaire owner of the website formerly known as Twitter said in a series of posts on Monday night that the company’s US ad income had dropped by 60%, mostly as a result of pressure from the ADL on advertisers.

“To clear our platform’s name on the matter of antisemitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony!” Mr Musk said.

He accused the group of “destroying half the value of the company, so roughly $22 billion” and of making “unfounded accusations” which sparked controversy and caused advertisers to pause working with X.

“Advertisers avoid controversy, so all that is needed for ADL to crush our US & European ad revenue is to make unfounded accusations. They have much less power in Asia, so our ad revenue there is still strong.

“This ‘controversy’ causes advertisers to ‘pause’, but that pause is permanent until ADL gives the green light, which they will not do without us agreeing to secretly suspend or shadowban any account they don’t like.”

“To be super clear, I’m pro-free speech, but against antisemitism of any kind,” Mr Musk added.

The ADL responded by stating that it does not comment on legal threats, but it did make a statement regarding the recent #BanTheADL campaign that Mr. Musk participated in on the site.

Such sneaky initiatives don’t deter us, according to an ADL representative. Instead, they motivate us to be steadfast in our commitment to combat hate in all of its manifestations and safeguard the safety of Jewish communities and other marginalized groups.

Since Mr. Musk completed his takeover of the website last year, several civil rights and other advocacy groups have voiced concerns about the site’s content, with many stating that their support for unrestricted free speech and the restoration of previously suspended accounts would encourage the spread of more hateful material.

Due to their worries about these difficulties, a lot of businesses lowered or stopped their advertising on X after Mr. Musk’s purchase.

Jewish safety organization Community Security Trust (CST) investigation showed that in the first half of 2023, there were more anti-Jewish hate incidents than ever before, with two-thirds of those attacks occurring on X.

Additionally, X filed a lawsuit last month against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) over allegations that it was discouraging advertisers from using the platform by disclosing research on hate speech.