ABC News: Paris mayor says she’s quitting Elon Musk’s ‘global sewer’ platform X. “The mayor of future Olympic host city Paris says she is quitting X, accusing Elon Musk ‘s platform previously known as Twitter of spreading disinformation and hatred and of becoming a ‘gigantic global sewer’ that is toxic for democracy and constructive debate.”
The Conversation: Queer archives preserve activist history and provide strategies to counter hate . “Since 2020, I have been helping to build a 2SLGBTQ+ Community Archive in Hamilton, Ont. My students and I are often amazed at just how long 2SLGBTQ+ communities have been resisting very similar kinds of backlash, hate and violence to what we’re seeing today. Anyone concerned about 2SLGBTQ+ struggles today can learn from the history of resistance and activism preserved in these archives.”
New York Times: X May Lose Up to $75 Million in Revenue as More Advertisers Pull Out. “Internal documents viewed by The New York Times this week show that the company is in a more difficult position than previously known and that concerns about Mr. Musk and the platform have spread far beyond companies including IBM, Apple and Disney, which paused their advertising campaigns on X last week. The documents list more than 200 ad units of companies from the likes of Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, many of which have halted or are considering pausing their ads on the social network.”
CNN: Elon Musk is now boosting the ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy theory. “Elon Musk on Monday boosted the dangerous, years-old ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy theory in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, just days after being roundly criticized and facing an advertiser exodus following his embrace of an antisemitic conspiracy theory.”
The Guardian: X sues watchdog group Media Matters after report on ads next to Nazi posts. “Social media platform X on Monday sued media watchdog group Media Matters, alleging the organization defamed the platform after it published a report that said ads for major brands had appeared next to posts touting Nazism.”
Jambands: Neil Young Leaves X Following Musk’s Antisemitic Sentiments. “Two years after Neil Young took his music off Spotify following COVID-19 vaccine misinformation by Joe Rogan on the platform, the artist has once again used his absence from a digital platform as a form of protest, this time stepping off X due to Elon Musk’s antisemitic sentiments.”
Mashable: Right-wing influencers pledge to bail out Elon Musk after Apple, Disney, others suspend advertising on X. “…numerous right-wing media companies and influencers have come together and pledged support for Elon Musk, promising to advertise on X in order to make up for the revenue lost from fleeing businesses… The controversial Andrew Tate, a ‘manosphere’ influencer who has previously been charged with rape and human trafficking, pledged the largest amount, saying he’d give Musk $1 million per month without even running ads for his own endeavors.”
Axios: What makes the X advertiser revolt different from other boycotts. “A slew of marquee advertisers suspended their advertising on X, formerly Twitter, Friday in response to a post by owner Elon Musk that endorsed an antisemitic post Wednesday. Why it matters: This is the closest X has come to a large-scale boycott since Musk purchased the platform more than a year ago.”
The Guardian: Elon Musk to file ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’ as advertisers desert X. “Elon Musk has said he will be filing a ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’ against Media Matters and others, after major US companies paused their adverts on his social media site over concerns about antisemitism.”
CNN: Disney and Lionsgate halt advertising on X. “Disney said it has suspended advertising on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The decision by one of the world’s most prominent film and television companies suggests an intensifying advertiser backlash to X after the social media platform’s owner, Elon Musk, embraced an antisemitic conspiracy theory popular among White supremacists.”
New York Times: Jewish Celebrities and Influencers Confront TikTok Executives in Private Call. “More than a dozen Jewish TikTok creators and celebrities confronted TikTok executives and other employees in a private meeting on Wednesday night, urging them to do more to address a surge of antisemitism and harassment on the popular video service.”
John Scalzi: Yup, Done With the Former Twitter. “Elon Musk, the most unfathomably insecure and pathetic billionaire the world has ever seen, has gone mask-off antisemite, and that means that while I had already reduced my participation on the former Twitter, now I’m off it entirely. I’m keeping the account so that no one can swoop in and take a screenname that’s been associated with me for the last fifteen years, but no more posting, and no more participation. Until and unless the service is sold to someone who isn’t Musk (and possibly even then, depending), I’m out, I’m through, I’m done.”
The Verge: IBM pulls X ads as Elon Musk endorses white pride. “The nonprofit Media Matters drew attention to those statements and noted that IBM, Apple, Comcast, and other companies all had ads placed next to pro-Nazi and pro-Hitler content (not posted by Musk) on X. IBM told the Financial Times and confirmed to The Verge that ‘IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation.'”
Insider: They survived the Holocaust. Then the online trolls came for them. . “Business Insider talked to three survivors and their families, and the granddaughter of a fourth survivor who died in 2022, who are committed to detailing their lives during the Holocaust on TikTok. While they’ve counteracted the toxic denialism that flourishes on the app, they’re also worried their stories will die with them.”
CNN: Elon Musk agrees with X post that claims Jews ‘push hatred’ against White people. “An X post Wednesday afternoon said: ‘Jewish communties (sic) have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.’ The post also referenced ‘hordes of minorities’ flooding Western countries, a popular antisemitic conspiracy theory. In response, Musk said: ‘You have said the actual truth.'”
