White House accuses Musk of ‘abhorrent’ promotion of antisemitic and racist hate
JAMES TITCOMB
November 17, 2023
The White House has accused Elon Musk of “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate” after the world’s richest man endorsed a tweet saying that Jewish people harbour “hatred against whites”.
Andrew Bates, the White House deputy press secretary, said the Tesla billionaire had repeated a “hideous lie” by calling an antisemitic tweet “the actual truth”.
Mr Musk was embroiled in a new antisemitism row this week after responding to the tweet, which read: “Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectic hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.
“I’m deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s--- now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realisation that those hordes of minorities that [they] support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much.”
Mr Musk, who has 163m followers, responded: “You have said the actual truth.”
Mr Bates said: “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.
“Like President Biden said weeks ago memorialising the victims of the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting, the October 7 ‘devastating atrocity has brought to the surface painful memories left by millennia of antisemitism;’ and under his presidency ‘we will continue to condemn antisemitism at every turn.’
“We condemn this abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans. We all have a responsibility to bring people together against hate, and an obligation to speak out against anyone who attacks the dignity of their fellow Americans and compromises the safety of our communities.”
Mr Musk has repeatedly fought with groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, which have accused him of failing to combat antisemitism since taking over Twitter, now known as X, last year.
Mr Musk said this week that the group “unjustly attacks the majority of the West”, adding: “I am deeply offended by ADL’s messaging and any other groups who push de facto anti-white racism or anti-Asian racism or racism of any kind.”
He has accused the ADL of co-ordinating a slump in Twitter’s advertising revenue.
The tweet Mr Musk responded to came from an account with fewer than 5,000 followers, but Mr Musk’s reply means it has been seen more than 1.1m times.
The European Commission and the tech giant IBM have suspended advertising on Twitter in the last 24 hours.
X did not respond to a request for comment.
JAMES TITCOMB
November 17, 2023
The White House has accused Elon Musk of “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate” after the world’s richest man endorsed a tweet saying that Jewish people harbour “hatred against whites”.
Andrew Bates, the White House deputy press secretary, said the Tesla billionaire had repeated a “hideous lie” by calling an antisemitic tweet “the actual truth”.
Mr Musk was embroiled in a new antisemitism row this week after responding to the tweet, which read: “Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectic hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.
“I’m deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s--- now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realisation that those hordes of minorities that [they] support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much.”
Mr Musk, who has 163m followers, responded: “You have said the actual truth.”
Mr Bates said: “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.
“Like President Biden said weeks ago memorialising the victims of the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting, the October 7 ‘devastating atrocity has brought to the surface painful memories left by millennia of antisemitism;’ and under his presidency ‘we will continue to condemn antisemitism at every turn.’
“We condemn this abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans. We all have a responsibility to bring people together against hate, and an obligation to speak out against anyone who attacks the dignity of their fellow Americans and compromises the safety of our communities.”
Mr Musk has repeatedly fought with groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, which have accused him of failing to combat antisemitism since taking over Twitter, now known as X, last year.
Mr Musk said this week that the group “unjustly attacks the majority of the West”, adding: “I am deeply offended by ADL’s messaging and any other groups who push de facto anti-white racism or anti-Asian racism or racism of any kind.”
He has accused the ADL of co-ordinating a slump in Twitter’s advertising revenue.
The tweet Mr Musk responded to came from an account with fewer than 5,000 followers, but Mr Musk’s reply means it has been seen more than 1.1m times.
The European Commission and the tech giant IBM have suspended advertising on Twitter in the last 24 hours.
X did not respond to a request for comment.
MEGAN LEBOWITZ AND DAVID INGRAM
November 17, 2023
WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday condemned a post Elon Musk made on X that embraced an antisemitic claim by another account that accused Jews of pushing hatred against white people.
"We condemn this abhorrent promotion of Antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement. "We all have a responsibility to bring people together against hate, and an obligation to speak out against anyone who attacks the dignity of their fellow Americans and compromises the safety of our communities."
On Wednesday, a user posted to X accusations that Jews push hatred of white people, saying he was "deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s--- now about western Jewish populations," realizing that "minorities that support flooding their country don't exactly like them too much."
Musk replied to the post, "You have said the actual truth." His post garnered more than 6 million views, according to the site-provided statistics.
Later in the thread, Musk targeted the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that fights antisemitism.
"The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel," Musk wrote. "This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat." Musk has criticized the ADL in the past, too.
Following Musk's initial tweet agreeing with the antisemitic claim, Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, called out the danger of promoting antisemitic theories.
"At a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one’s influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories," Greenblatt posted to X with a screenshot of Musk's post.
In the White House's response to Musk's post, Bates said it was "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.
"Like President Biden said weeks ago memorializing the victims of the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting, the October 7 'devastating atrocity has brought to the surface painful memories left by millennia of Antisemitism;' and under his presidency 'we will continue to condemn Antisemitism at every turn," Bates continued. The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018 left 11 killed and seven injured, and was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Reached for comment by NBC News, X responded, "Busy now, please check back later."
On Thursday, Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, posted that the platform has been "extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination."
"There’s no place for it anywhere in the world — it’s ugly and wrong," the post continued. "Full stop."
Biden has also addressed the rise in antisemitism in recent weeks, and many American Jews have said they approve of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
"We must, without equivocation, denounce antisemitism," Biden said in an Oct. 20 speech. "We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia."
Since Oct. 7, Jews have experienced a dramatic rise in antisemitism. In the month since the attacks, there has been a 316% increase in antisemitic incidents in the U.S. compared to the same period in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights and advocacy group, said last month that it got nearly 800 requests for help and reports of bias incidents from Muslims across the U.S. from Oct. 7 to Oct. 24, a 182% jump from any 16-day stretch in 2022.
November 17, 2023
WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday condemned a post Elon Musk made on X that embraced an antisemitic claim by another account that accused Jews of pushing hatred against white people.
"We condemn this abhorrent promotion of Antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement. "We all have a responsibility to bring people together against hate, and an obligation to speak out against anyone who attacks the dignity of their fellow Americans and compromises the safety of our communities."
On Wednesday, a user posted to X accusations that Jews push hatred of white people, saying he was "deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s--- now about western Jewish populations," realizing that "minorities that support flooding their country don't exactly like them too much."
Musk replied to the post, "You have said the actual truth." His post garnered more than 6 million views, according to the site-provided statistics.
Later in the thread, Musk targeted the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that fights antisemitism.
"The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel," Musk wrote. "This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat." Musk has criticized the ADL in the past, too.
Following Musk's initial tweet agreeing with the antisemitic claim, Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, called out the danger of promoting antisemitic theories.
"At a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one’s influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories," Greenblatt posted to X with a screenshot of Musk's post.
In the White House's response to Musk's post, Bates said it was "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.
"Like President Biden said weeks ago memorializing the victims of the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting, the October 7 'devastating atrocity has brought to the surface painful memories left by millennia of Antisemitism;' and under his presidency 'we will continue to condemn Antisemitism at every turn," Bates continued. The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018 left 11 killed and seven injured, and was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Reached for comment by NBC News, X responded, "Busy now, please check back later."
On Thursday, Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, posted that the platform has been "extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination."
"There’s no place for it anywhere in the world — it’s ugly and wrong," the post continued. "Full stop."
Biden has also addressed the rise in antisemitism in recent weeks, and many American Jews have said they approve of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
"We must, without equivocation, denounce antisemitism," Biden said in an Oct. 20 speech. "We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia."
Since Oct. 7, Jews have experienced a dramatic rise in antisemitism. In the month since the attacks, there has been a 316% increase in antisemitic incidents in the U.S. compared to the same period in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights and advocacy group, said last month that it got nearly 800 requests for help and reports of bias incidents from Muslims across the U.S. from Oct. 7 to Oct. 24, a 182% jump from any 16-day stretch in 2022.
Elon Musk and X can’t escape government oversight, judge rules
BRIAN FUNG, CNN
November 17, 2023
A federal judge said Thursday he would not intervene in a dispute between X owner Elon Musk and the Federal Trade Commission in an ongoing agency investigation of the social media giant that has triggered intense public scrutiny.
The decision means Musk may be forced to cooperate with federal investigators who are probing X, the company formerly known as Twitter, over business decisions that regulators fear may have jeopardized user security or privacy.
The 11-page order by US Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixon denies X’s attempt to invalidate a longtime privacy settlement with the FTC that forms the basis for the investigation. Hixon said the US District Court for the Northern District of California lacks the authority to grant X’s request to overturn the independent agency’s administrative order.
For the same reason, Hixon said he could not block the FTC from trying to depose Musk as part of the probe. The ruling could indirectly boost a similar and recent move by the US Securities and Exchange Commission to compel Musk’s testimony in a separate investigation related to Musk’s purchase of Twitter.
The privacy settlement at stake is central to the US government’s scrutiny of X. Questions about whether the company has complied with the 2011 order arose in a significant way in 2022. That’s when Twitter paid $150 million in an update to the settlement, resolving fresh allegations that it harmed users when it used personal information provided for account authentication purposes for advertising purposes instead.
Later that year, a whistleblower disclosure by Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, Twitter’s former security chief, again raised new doubts about Twitter’s compliance, triggering the current FTC probe. And the investigation has only intensified since Musk’s takeover of the company, prompting X to protest what it has called government overreach and harassment of Musk. The FTC has said that it is attempting to carry out its mission to ensure X is complying with its legal obligations.
X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday’s order.
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