Elon Musk’s declared commitment to free speech on X has drawn fire for amplifying fringe and hateful content. And, as it turns out, companies aren’t thrilled when their ads run next to that material.
On Thursday, IBM became the latest organization to pause its spending on the site, after its advertisements appeared alongside pro-Nazi tweets.
“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation,” a spokesperson told The Financial Times.
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In recent days, Musk himself has been accused of boosting antisemitic accounts and material. On Wednesday, he applauded another user’s tweet claiming that “Jewish [communities] have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”
“You have said the actual truth,” the billionaire replied.
Early the next morning, another user complained that “Everyone is allowed to be proud of their race, except for white people, because we’ve been brainwashed into believing that our history was somehow ‘worse’ than that of other races… If we really want to do the comparing game, white people have also done A LOT of good for the world.”
Musk co-signed that tweet as well, writing, “Yeah, this is super messed up. Time for this nonsense to end and shame ANYONE who perpetuates these lies!”
In September, Musk attacked the Anti-Defamation League—which works to combat antisemitism—blaming the group for driving advertisers away from the social media platform. He threatened to sue but never followed through.
A spokesperson for the ADL told The Daily Beast at the time that it was “unsurprised yet undeterred that antisemites, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and other trolls have launched a coordinated attack on our organization.”
Linda Yaccarino, X’s CEO, attempted a measure of damage control on Thursday.
“X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the board,” she tweeted. “When it comes to this platform—X has also 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. Full stop.”
The top reply to her tweet asked, “Is your boss aware of that?”
