An agitated Elon Musk said that advertisers who stopped their money from X/Twitter after his article promoted an antisemitic conspiracy theory were attempting to “blackmail” the firm and threatening to drive it bankrupt.
Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, sent a warning to major marketers, including Disney, who had stopped investing on his social network: “Fuck yourself… Fuck it. Yourself. Is that clear?” he asked during the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday. He chastised advertisements for making it appear as if they were performing virtuously while being “evil.”
Earlier in the day at the DealBook Summit, Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed the company’s decision to stop paying on X advertising. “I have a lot of respect for Elon and what he has accomplished,” he added. Given “the position [Musk] took, in quite a public manner,” Disney concluded that its relationship with Musk and X/Twitter was “not necessarily a positive one for us.”
When asked to comment, Musk stated that if a firm like Disney “tries to blackmail me with advertising,” they should not advertise on X. “Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel — don’t advertise,” Musk, who was dressed in a leather bomber jacket, remarked.
Major advertisers are leaving Musk’s X, including Disney, IBM, Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony, Comcast and NBCUniversal, and Lionsgate. Those marketers halted ad spending when Musk backed a post on X promoting the antisemitic replacement theory, saying “You have said the actual truth” – prompting the White House to rebuke Musk for his “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate.”
Also read: Elton John quits Twitter blaming change in misinformation policy
The advertising freeze also came as a result of investigations by the activist group Media Matters that revealed adverts close to pro-Nazi and white supremacist articles.
Musk stated at the DealBook Summit, “I should not have replied to that particular person… “I handed a loaded gun to those who despise me,” he says, calling it one of the “most foolish” postings he’s ever made on X/Twitter.
Musk stated in subsequent writings that he clarified his remark. He claimed that he argued that persecuted groups supported by Jewish organizations were calling for attacks on Jews, which he described as an absurd situation.
“What I was saying was that it’s unwise to support groups that want your annihilation,” Musk remarked at the time. He stated once more that he is not anti-Semitic and that “if anything, I am Philo-Semitic.”
“I have no problem being hated,” Musk told DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, who interviewed him on stage. “Hate away,” she says, adding that it’s “a real weakness to be liked.” Musk told Sorkin, “The only reason I’m here is because you’re a friend” (addressing Sorkin as “Jonathan” until Sorkin corrected him).
Meanwhile, Musk stated that his visit to Israel this week, where he was received by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was not “an apology tour.”
Later in the conversation, which lasted about an hour and a half, Musk stated that he stopped using TikTok because the AI system was “probing my mind.” He also mentioned that TikTok is “rife” with antisemitic content.
Sorkin also inquired whether X/Twitter was restricting the loading time of links to the New York Times website; the lag affected Meta sites as well as those of other news organizations. Musk seems to perceive the question as referring to X’s algorithmic post prioritizing, and he stated that corporations must have a subscription, which starts at $1,000 per month, or their posts will not be “recommended.” Sorkin inquired as to what this meant for “free speech,” to which Musk said, “Free speech isn’t free, it’s going to cost a little bit.”
Also read: Elon Musk Uses a Crude Insult to Slam Advertisers for Pulling Back From X
X sued Media Matters last week, stating that the organization was conducting a “blatant smear campaign” against Musk and X by utilizing altered research. The lawsuit was deemed “frivolous” by Media Matters, which stated that it “stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court.”
In late October, just over a year after Musk finalized a $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter, X informed qualified employees that they would get shares valued at $19 billion.
Also read: Elon Musk’s $44 Billion Twitter Takeover Case Study
Musk, who also serves as CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and has a stake in several other companies, is optimistic about the future of X, which he intends to transform into “the everything app,” including payment processing and management of customers’ “entire financial life.”
Musk, as Twitter’s owner, has overseen, among other things, an 80% reduction in headcount; partially dismantled Twitter’s blue check-mark system designed to boost trust in the authenticity of notable accounts and now grants “verified” status to $8-per-month X Premium subscribers; and launched a test to charge users $1 per year to post to the platform (which he says is necessary to combat bots).
