Even the richest man in the world cannot afford to lose corporate ad dollars on his social media platform; X on behalf of an ADL-led smear campaign against Elon Musk in the early days of his Twitter takeover, significant changes have happened to Musk ever since. On October 27, 2022, Elon Musk sealed his deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion followed by a period of turbulent growth, specifically of right-wing Conservative accounts, such as Alex Jones returning to X and the start of Tucker Carlson’s Twitter show in June of last year.

ADL and Musk

The Anti-Defamation League, or the ADL, describes itself as an organization that serves as a global leader in combatting antisemitism, countering extremism, and battling bigotry, when the ADL has historically been known to run smear campaigns against individuals critical of "Israel", including progressive politicians, Conservative anti-Zionists, and even Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who in the initial days of owning Twitter, allowed for an environment of free expression, prompting pro-Palestinian accounts to use the platform on equal footing. The ADL is also well known for posting itself among other minority communities within the United States, painting itself by its mission statement of combatting hate, which has been focusing almost exclusively on pro-"Israel" advocacy since October of last year.

Initially, the rift between Musk and the ADL burst open when Elon Musk joined a Twitter space (link) with American conservative commentators; Alex Jones, Nick Fuentas, and others. ADL CEO Johnathan Greenblatt focused on the participation of the more controversial conservative voices, and smeared the entire session as an "antisemitic campaign". This led other organizations such as Media Matter for America to characterize multiple Twitter posts as pro-Nazi, triggering an ad boycott by companies concerned for their reputation vis-à-vis their ad campaigns on Twitter. IBM, Apple, NBC Universal, Comcast, Disney, Paramount Global, and other companies halted their ad spending on Twitter, boycotting the platform altogether in November of 2023.

Twitter boycott

In an interview for The New York Times on November 29, Elon Musk responded to questions regarding his concern about lost revenue by saying; “go f*** yourself” and “If you think you can blackmail me with money, go f*** yourself”. It seems that this phrase was only rhetorical because, since the Twitter boycott started, he has shifted focus away from free speech absolutism to Israeli propaganda by taking a trip to "Israel" and only even made those bold remarks after his pro-"Israel" PR campaign kicked off three days prior.

Musk’s 'Israel' trip

On November 27, 2023, the same month when the Twitter boycott started, Musk strapped with a bulletproof vest, visited southern "Israel" accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, in what can only be described as an Israeli-propaganda excursion. Not once did Musk question Netanyahu’s regime, or their carpet-bombing campaign in Gaza which continues until the present day, with no objection by the Twitter CEO.

Musk-Netanyahu address

On Wednesday, July 24, Elon Musk attended the joint session of Congress speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an event highly unpopular with the American public, in complete service of Netanyahu’s Likud Party and their image of retaining the support of their most powerful ally, the United States.

The speech was met by thousands of protesters outside of Capitol Hill, signaling the American public’s distrust of the US-Israeli relationship, yet inside, on both sides of the political aisle, an embarrassing habit of applauding Netanyahu nearly 40 times in less than one hour. Musk was seen in the special guest section applauding Netanyahu while standing, clearly showing his new-found pro-"Israel" sentiment.

Zionism impeding free speech on X

Musk’s viewpoints could have been seen as separate from his new Twitter regime and media censorship policy, but it has become clear that the billionaire has found himself serving Israeli propaganda on the platform when he said on a live X spaces discussion with Netanyahu; “There’s no choice” about the Israeli war on Gaza, asserting the Israeli regimes propaganda point that Hamas “must be destroyed."

Musk not only used his Twitter platform to further Zionist propaganda but also to suspend many accounts that have run contrary to the Zionist narrative such as Noura Erakat and veteran Palestinian journalist Said Arikat. While Twitter continues to be a platform more balanced than the others, the postering of its CEO toward the Israeli Prime Minister himself should send shivers down the spine of anyone looking to make a living on the platform while holding views that could be dubbed antisemitic any time Israeli accounts see fit.

Free speech is down the drain again

Initially, I had hope for Elon Musk’s free speech project with Twitter, knowing that he has the wealth to sustain his ownership and operation of the platform, I believed that he could be the one conservative-leaning anti-censorship social media boss, out of the bad company of META’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai, both of whom collaborated with governments to censor politically sensitive content leading up to the 2020 general election.

While Twitter remains a more balanced platform than Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, it remains to be seen if that will remain the case if Elon Musk continues down the same path. It is only a matter of time before the entire social media scene returns to the clutch.