A bunch of 100 Jewish leaders, together with some distinguished rabbis and teachers, released a public letter criticizing X, the social media platform previously generally known as Twitter, and its proprietor Elon Musk for enabling a “new stage of antisemetic discourse.”
In response to the letter, the group’s issues started with Musk’s takeover of the positioning in October 2022. Musk has been criticized for allowing previously banned users again onto the platform, together with Andrew Tate, Kanye West and a few infamous neo-Nazi figures, and for lowering content material moderation on the positioning. Musk — who has stated he desires to advertise “free speech” — has additionally floated the thought of removing the site’s “block” feature.
Musk has additionally shared a number of posts that the group described as antisemitic, they usually famous he has appreciated or platformed different such feedback.
Lately, Musk threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit group that fights antisemitism and extremism, blaming its criticism of hate speech on the platform for X’s slumping advert gross sales. The letter stated Musk focused the ADL “as a really clear stand-in for antisemitic illustration of Jewish energy.”
“We have now watched in horror as a brand new stage in antisemitic discourse has unfold like wildfire on one in every of America’s largest social media networks,” the letter says. “All of this has been facilitated and enabled by its proprietor: Elon Musk. We’re talking after all of X (previously Twitter), which since his takeover has develop into a breeding floor for among the most harmful antisemitic discourse in America. It has made fringe figures mainstream, unfold conspiracy theories that endanger Jews, reinstated neo-Nazis and different antisemites, and destroyed the content material moderation that after stored issues like Holocaust denial and hate speech minimized.”
The letter additionally cited examples of Musk “participating in antisemitic conspiracy theories.” That conduct, the letter stated, has meant that “antisemitic discourse has doubled on X” — and presumably elevated even additional because of current feedback from Musk.
In a press release to CBS Information, the group behind the letter stated that Musk’s “antisemitism is much extra harmful than most individuals know, and we’re right here to insist that or not it’s portrayed because the pressing hazard it’s.”
In 2022, researchers from Montclair State University found an “speedy, seen, and measurable spike” in “vulgar and hostile” rhetoric geared toward folks based mostly on their race, faith, ethnicity and orientation within the 12 hours after Musk took over the positioning. Data from the Center for Countering Digital Hate launched in December 2022 confirmed slurs in opposition to Black folks tripled the 2022 common after Musk’s takeover, whereas slurs in opposition to members of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood rose by 58%.
“In brief, X has develop into a breeding floor for antisemitism and represents one of many largest risks to Jews in years. If one thing doesn’t change, we all know what’s going to occur: hate speech and radicalization are all the time the precursor to violence,” the letter stated.
The letter included a number of calls to motion, together with asking organizations to finish their relationships with Musk’s varied corporations, together with Tesla and SpaceX. The letter additionally urged massive advertisers cease spending cash to promote on X, and that Google and Apple take away the app from their app shops.
“Elon Musk has proven a refusal to again down from the hazard he poses to Jews and different minorities and susceptible communities. Interesting to him instantly, because the ADL and others have, has been an abject failure,” the letter stated. “Outdoors stress that hits him the place it hurts is the one efficient measure. Not doing so will imply the additional unfold of extremism and antisemitism. These do not simply threaten Jews: they threaten a free society and all these affected by the conspiracy theories tied to antisemitism.”
CBS Information reached out to X for remark and obtained an automated message studying: “Busy now, please examine again later.” In July, Musk posted that press and media inquiries would obtain such messages in an “infinite loop” of non-answers. It is a change from the earlier auto-reply, which responded to such inquiries with a poop emoji.
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