Elon Musk has a succinct message for Apple and others who paused advertising on X over a fake controversy ginned-up by Media Matters: “Go fuck yourself.”
“Don’t advertise. If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is,” Musk said.
Seems fairly clear.
Musk added, “What I care about is the reality of goodness, not the perception of it. And what I see all over the place is people who care about looking good, while doing evil. Fuck them.”
The judge is the public. – Elon Musk
The backstory: X CEO Linda Yaccarino sent a note to employees on the evening of Sunday, November 19th, saying a Media Matters hit-piece on ads appearing near antisemitic content on the social media platform is “misleading” and that the company is in the midst of battling “deceptive attacks.”
The statement comes after Media Matters claimed the platform was placing ads for major companies such as Apple and others “next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.” In knee-jerk reaction, many advertisers, including Apple, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Lionsgate quickly paused ads on the social media platform. Yaccarino says this advertising pause is only “temporary.”
Caitlin Huston for The Hollywood Reporter:
“While some advertisers may have temporarily paused investments because of a misleading and manipulated article, the data will tell the real story. Because for all of us who work at X, we’ve been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination, as there’s no place for it anywhere in the world,” Yaccarino wrote in the memo to all X employees, under the headline “Our Work is Meaningful.”
Additionally, [X owner Elon] Musk drew criticism for writing a post on Wednesday that many are calling out as being antisemitic. Musk said “you have said the actual truth” in response to another user on X, who said, “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 support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much.”
MacDailyNews Note: Yaccarino’s full memo:
Team,
Across every corner of this company, we’re working to create a platform for everyone. And there is no other platform that’s working as hard to protect free speech like X. Our work is critical, but it’s not always easy. What we’re doing matters, which means it naturally invites criticism from those who do not share our beliefs.
While some advertisers may have temporarily paused investments because of a misleading and manipulated article, the data will tell the real story. Because for all of us who work at X, we’ve been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination, as there’s no place for it anywhere in the world.
I want to encourage you to read and listen to all the feedback. On one side, there’s a vocal minority trying to use deceptive attacks to undermine our work. But on the other side, there are vocal supporters and courageous partners who believe in X and the meaningful work you are all doing. Hold on to that and keep pushing forward. No critic will ever deter us from our mission to protect free speech.
Let’s keep putting our values to work and lean on one another. I am extremely proud to be on the front line with you all — and I’ll see you all at the office tomorrow morning.
Linda
Prior to the memo, X owner Elon Musk addressed the situation:
Read more:
• How social networks became a ‘subsidiary’ of the FBI and CIA – Jonathan Cook for Middle East Eye, February 20, 2023
MacDailyNews Take: Any report that claims Musk “endorsed an antisemitic post on X” is lying to you (see below).
Some might say that the loss of control and the ability to direct speech and promote certain political viewpoints while squelching others on Twitter, now X, is the reason why some are going after the powerful platform.
Rather than paraphrase and mischaracterize the original exchange, as far too many media outlets, many with agendas and ulterior motives, have done and are currently doing, we’ll simply present it verbatim:
Charles Weber (@CWBOCA) via X:
To the cowards hiding behind the anonymity of the internet and posting “Hitler was right”:
You got something you want to say? Why dont you say it to our faces…
The Artist Formerly Known as Eric (@breakingbaht) via X replied:
Okay.
Jewish communties have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.
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 support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much.
You want truth said to your face, there it is.
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) via X replied:
You have said the actual truth
Musk followed up with this reply:
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) via X:
The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel.
This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat.
It is not right and needs to stop.
Musk further clarified in an additional response:
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) via X:
You [are] right that this does not extend to all Jewish communities, but it is also not just limited to ADL
For this, this charade, Apple paused their advertising on X. It’s a weak, spineless, disappointing, lemming-like move. You’d think Media Matters were the CCP by how fast Tim Cook jumped.
See also:
• The Babylon Bee lampoons Apple CEO Tim Cook for pulling ads from X ‘while shaking hands with brutal Chinese dictator’ – November 22, 2023
• Apple CEO Cook: ‘Fake news’ is ‘killing people’s minds’ – February 11, 2017
There is, of course, much more to this story, as Apple very likely knows, but seems to be ignoring: Musk, who bought Twitter last year and later renamed it X, lifted many restrictions, including banning, shadow-banning, and other moderated content on the platform as part of his stated free-speech-absolutist agenda. The ADL, an advocacy group, has publicly criticized Musk’s free speech policy, joining calls for advertisers to drop X. Musk in September threatened the ADL with a massive libel suit.
Read more:
• How social networks became a ‘subsidiary’ of the FBI and CIA – Jonathan Cook for Middle East Eye, February 20, 2023
• As Musk and the ADL duke it out, critics within both camps settle old scores – Canaan Lidor for The Times of Israel, September 11, 2023
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