The White House on Friday condemned Elon Musk’s endorsement of a vile antisemitic conspiracy theory on X, as major American companies including Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal paused their advertising on the social media site.
Musk agreed with a post on Wednesday on X that made the baseless claim that Jewish people were manipulating information against white people, with Musk replying there was “some truth” to the racist and antisemitic lie that Jewish people control banks and media.
The White House accused Musk of “promoting vile antisemitic hate and conspiracy theories” that are “repugnant to American values.”
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said it was “dangerous” for Musk to repeat lies about Jewish people controlling banks and media, especially after recent hate-inspired attacks. Bates cited the killing of 11 Jewish people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh four years ago.
In addition to Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp and Paramount Global said on Friday they were pausing advertising on X.
Axios reported that Apple, the largest company in the world by market value, had also paused its advertising.
IBM said on Thursday it had suspended advertising on X after a report its ads appeared next to content promoting Holocaust denial and Nazi propaganda.
Media Matters reported they found ads from IBM, Apple, Oracle and Comcast’s Xfinity ran next to antisemitic content on X.
Civil rights groups say advertisers have fled the site, previously known as Twitter before Musk bought it in October 2022 and scaled back content moderation, leading to a rise of hate speech.
Musk and X representatives did not immediately comment on the post when reached on Friday.
X CEO Linda Yakarin wrote on Thursday that there was no place for hateful and dangerous content anywhere in the world and it was “reprehensible.”
Antisemitic sentiment has been increasing in recent years across the United States and around the world.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-Semitism, after last month’s surge in violence between Israel and Hamas militants based in Gaza, antisemitic incidents jumped about 400% compared to the same period a year earlier across the United States.