Tech billionaire Elon Musk verbally attacked rogue advertisers on his online platform X during a public appearance. “If someone tries to blackmail me with ads? Blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself!” Musk complained on stage at a New York Times conference.
He specifically mentioned Disney boss Bob Iger. A boycott by advertisers will kill X (formerly Twitter), he said.
When asked whether, as the richest person in the world, he would keep the platform afloat permanently, Musk seemed to indicate that he would accept X’s financial failure. The advertisers who pulled their ads would then have to explain themselves to the public, he said.
Several major companies stopped advertising on A day later, hate speech researchers demonstrated in a report how advertising from well-known brands on X was placed next to Nazi posts.
Musk admits mistakes
After weeks of controversy, Musk acknowledged for the first time that his “truth” post was a mistake and explained that his views had been misunderstood. He simply wanted to say to Jewish organizations that it was not wise to support radical Islamists who wanted their destruction.
Musk’s X contribution was condemned by the White House, among others, and received approval in anti-Semitic circles. He then repeatedly emphasized that he was not an anti-Semite. Musk was received in Israel on Monday. There he visited, among other things, a kibbutz that was attacked by the Islamist Hamas on October 7th with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Musk emphasized that the visit had nothing to do with the controversy surrounding his X contribution.
