Musk threatens to sue Anti-Defamation League for defamation

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
5 Sep 2023 12:37

X executive Elon Musk said the Anti-Defamation League does not have a significant presence in China, which is why Twitter's revenues are still strong in the country.

Elon Musk speaks at the Vivatech fair, June 16, 2023, in Paris, France (AP)

Elon Musk announced on Monday that he will be filing a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for their false accusations of antisemitism against him and his platform.

"To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony," Musk posted on X on Monday.

To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023

Musk said that advertisers are wary of controversy and that the ADL's accusations have caused them to "pause."

The League does not have a significant presence in China, which is why X's revenues are still strong in the country.

The ADL has demanded that Twitter suspend and shadowban accounts that they deem to be controversial, and this was the relationship that they had with Twitter and other social media platforms, Musk added.

The X advertising revenue "is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers" by the ADL, he said, adding that the League has been "trying to kill" X by "falsely accusing" it and himself of being antisemitic.

"To be super clear, I'm pro-free speech, but against anti-Semitism of any kind," Musk said in another tweet.

The ADL spokesperson said that they do not comment on legal threats as a matter of policy.

In March, the ADL published a report that found Twitter was not adequately removing antisemitic content, with only 28% of such posts being taken down.

The ADL is an organization that was founded in 1913 with the claim of being an organization that fights anti-Semitism. However, it pedals pro-Zionist ideals and continuously denounces any pro-Palestinian thought.

The organization is pro-Zionist and intentionally sidelines the rights and freedoms of Palestinians in order to promote the idea of a "Jewish state".

According to their website, the ADL proclaims Zionism to be "the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel," thus ignoring its roots that stem from European colonialism and the pursuit of expansion at the expense of third countries.

On December 9, 2022, the ADL refused to condemn the Pentagon's honoring of a veteran of the Azov Battalion who dons Nazi-inspired tattoos.

An email dated November 9 sent by the ADL to The Grayzone, an investigative journalist website, stressed that it does not view the Azov as the “far-right group it once was.”

Founded by Andriy Biletsky, who vowed to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade…against Semite-led Untermenschen,” the group is a pack of neo-Nazis working with the US-backed Ukrainian military.

It used to be condemned and labeled with Nazism all over it by Western media and the human rights industry - until the war in Ukraine in February 2022. Azov became the Ukrainian military’s defense of Mariupol, and Western media became suddenly inspired to rebrand Azov as a "misunderstood freedom fighter" and use the Kremlin as the anti-thesis.

The ADL seemed to turn a blind eye when Azov used civilians as human shields and executed those who tried to escape. Back in March, the ADL recognized the unit in a report it published, that white nationalists view Azov “as a pathway to the creation of a National Socialist state in Ukraine.”

In August, Russia's Supreme Court designated Ukraine's Azov Battalion as a terrorist organization.