"Nothing Could Be Further From Truth": Elon Musk Slams Anti-Semitic Charge

Amid an outcry over unchecked antisemitic content on social media site X, platform owner Elon Musk today slammed the "bogus media stories" claiming that he was endorsing such content.

"This past week, there were hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that I am antisemitic. Nothing could be further from the truth. I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all," he said.

This past week, there were hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that I am antisemitic.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2023

After several companies, including Apple, Disney and IBM, paused advertisements on X last week, Musk said that he would be filing a lawsuit against a non-profit group Media Matters. 

A Media Matters' report - showing ads for Apple, International Business Machines Corp., Oracle Corp., Comcast Corp.'s Xfinity brand and the Bravo television network running on X next to pro-Nazi content. - had sparked a massive row.

"This week Media Matters for America posted a story that completely misrepresented the real experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers," a statement posted by Musk had said.

The White House also called Musk's reply an "unacceptable" act that endangers Jewish communities.

Several Tesla Inc. shareholders also spoke out against Musk, who is the chief executive officer of the electric car maker, with some saying he should be suspended from his post. 

Elon Musk had caused a huge uproar by endorsing a post that said Jewish people hold a "dialectical hatred" of white people. "You have said the actual truth," he wrote.

In the year since taking over Twitter, now rebranded as X, Musk has gutted content moderation, restored accounts of previously banned extremists, and allowed users to purchase account verification, helping them profit from viral - but often inaccurate - posts.

A recent study by the disinformation monitoring group NewsGuard found that paying subscribers at X were the big spreaders of misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war.