Elon Musk, who owns X (previously Twitter), has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for defamation over the latter's previous statements. The group's earlier remarks were reportedly about the rise of hate speech on the social media site, which Musk claims has led to a precipitous drop in advertising income for X.

US Ad Revenue Still Down 60%

(Photo : ALAIN JOCARD / AFP via Getty Images)
SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks on as he speaks during his visit at the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, on June 16, 2023.

Musk said on X: "Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that's what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!"

Musk further stated that the ADL has been actively working to destroy the platform since he assumed control in October 2022 by spreading false rumors that the platform and he are anti-Semitic.

The ADL has previously said that it does not provide comment on pending litigation. The group did say it had just met with X's leadership, including CEO Linda Yaccarino, whom Musk had recruited to help bring back advertising income.

Although a #BanTheADL movement has gained momentum on X, the ADL has claimed that Musk is "lifting" the effort.

The ADL has said that it is not shocked by the systematic attack on the organization that it has received from antisemites, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, and other trolls. A representative from the group said that incidents of this kind are not uncommon.

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Musk vs. Anti-Hate Groups

According to the ADL and other groups like the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), the amount of hate speech on the platform has increased considerably while Musk has been in charge.

In May, two watchdog groups released reports claiming that the number of times a tweet containing hate speech had been viewed had increased, as reported by CNN.

The CCDH reported that under Musk, the n-word is used three times as often as the ordinary person and that insults against homosexual men and trans people have increased by 58% and 62%, respectively. In a second study, the ADL claimed that it had found evidence of both rising antisemitic content and a decline in the platform's moderation of such posts.

In response, Musk said that these May reports were completely false and that the number of impressions for tweets containing hate speech had been decreasing since his early days as CEO.

Musk filed a lawsuit against the CCDH last month, alleging that the foundation was intentionally attempting to scare away advertisers by releasing studies critical of the platform's reaction to hateful content.

To be more precise, Twitter argues that CCDH violated its terms of service and federal hacking laws by collecting data from the company's platform and by urging an unidentified person to inappropriately acquire information about Twitter that it had sent to a third-party brand monitoring provider.

See Also: Elon Musk's X Revises Privacy Policy to Obtain User Biometric Info, Employment Records