Elon Musk promised ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’ after anti-Semitic scandal

Advertisers began leaving former Twitter due to racist content

Billionaire Elon Musk will file a ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’ as advertisers on his platform X defect from the former Twitter. The boss of a social media company said he will sue a media watchdog company that said ads ran next to anti-Semitic content.

Elon Musk said he would file a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against Media Matters and others after major US companies suspended advertising on his social media site over concerns about anti-Semitism.

According to The Guardian, earlier this week media watchdog Media Matters said it found that corporate ads from IBM, Apple, Oracle and Comcast’s Xfinity were placed next to anti-Semitic content, including praising Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

This led to a number of major technology and media companies announcing that they would pull their ads. Among them were Warner Brothers, Paramount and Disney.

“With the split-second trial opening on Monday, X Corp will file a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company,” Musk said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

As The Guardian recalls, Elon Musk on Wednesday agreed with a post on X that falsely claimed that Jews are inciting hatred against white people, saying that the user who referenced the “great replacement” conspiracy theory was telling the “plain truth.”

“This week, Media Matters for America published a story that completely misrepresented the actual experience of working at X, in another attempt to undermine free speech and mislead advertisers,” Musk said in a statement.

“Above all else, including profit, X works to protect the public’s right to free speech. But for free speech to be truly free, we must also have the freedom to see or hear what some people may find objectionable,” he added.

The billionaire made no reference to the furore surrounding his controversial tweet, but has previously denied being an anti-Semite. Musk further denied the findings of Media Matters, notes The Guardian.

Apple was one of X’s biggest advertisers, spending up to $100 million a year as of November 2022, when Musk bought the social network, Bloomberg reports.

Since then, there has been a trend of fewer X advertisers and fewer users – while Musk introduced a paid premium system, claiming it was designed to target bots on the site.

The White House joined the protest against Musk’s controversial tweet on Friday, issuing a statement calling it a “disgusting propaganda of anti-Semitic and racist hatred” that “runs counter to our core values ​​as Americans.”

Referring to the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, White House press secretary Andrew Bates said: “It is unacceptable to repeat abhorrent lies… one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”