Elon Musk threatens ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’ as Apple, Disney pause X ads amid anti-Semitism storm
Elon Musk has threatened a “thermonuclear lawsuit” after companies including Apple and Disney paused their advertisements on his social media platform X following an anti-Semitism storm.
The troubled platform, formerly known as Twitter, has faced a renewed exodus of advertisers after a report by American media watchdog Media Matters said it had found advertisements by top companies appearing alongside anti-Semitic and white nationalist content on the site.
Mr Musk’s own conduct has also been under scrutiny this week after he appeared to tweet approval of a message disparaging “Jewish communties”.
Warner Brothers Discovery, Comcast, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony Pictures, and IBM have all halted their advertising on X, as has the European Commission, according to reports.
On Saturday, Mr Musk posted on X: “The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company.”
He continued: “Their board, their donors, their network of dark money, all of them…”
His comments were accompanied by a fuller statement from X stating: “This week Media Matters for America posted a story that completely misrepresented the real user experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers.”
The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur also called Media Matters an “evil organization” in response.
On Wednesday, Mr Musk appeared to agree with a post on X that falsely claimed Jewish people have been “pushing dialectical hatred against whites”.
The post added: “I’m deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that pthey supported] flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much.”
Mr Musk replied: “You have said the actual truth.”
The user’s post references the far-right “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory – which alleges that Jewish people and leftists are attempting to replace white citizens with non-white immigrants.
The White House accused Mr Musk of an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate” that “runs against our core values as Americans.”
“It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie … one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said, referring to the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel.
However, Mr Musk denied he is anti-Semitic and that his comments referred to groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other unspecified “Jewish communities” but not all Jewish people.
“This does not extend to all Jewish communities, but it is also not just limited to ADL,” he wrote. “I am deeply offended by ADL’s messaging and any other groups who push de facto anti-white racism or anti-Asian racism or racism of any kind.”
On Thursday, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, a former advertising sales chief at NBC Universal, said: “X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the board – I think that’s something we can and should all agree on.
“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.”
