Leaf&Core

Finally, Musk Went Too Far for Apple and IBM

Danielle from Leaf and Core
Reading Time: 5 minutes.

A "dead" Twitter bird logo with an aproximation of Twitter's new 'X' logo on the eyeIBM announced that Elon Musk went too far, they’re pulling their ads from Twitter. Apple agreed. Musk recently agreed with the racist and antisemitic conspiracy theory commonly called “replacement theory.” Many had long suspected that Musk had hateful leanings, but nothing was as clear as day as this.

IBM announced they have “zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination” when they pulled their support for advertising on Twitter (X). But that’s a bit of an exaggeration, isn’t it? After all, this isn’t the first time Musk had validated hate speech and discrimination. Notably, he changed the rules of the platform to allow hate speech and discrimination against transgender people and has been outspoken against trans rights. However, IBM thinks this time, he’s gone too far, and Apple seems to agree.

Obviously, this is the right move, even if it’s too late. It’s a shame it took Musk espousing the same views that lead to the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in 2018 for companies to see what Musk’s Twitter really is.

Companies have seen their ads alongside antisemitic videos for months now. A few weeks ago, Twitter did a “timeline takeover” forcing a transphobic video onto everyone’s timeline, which highlighted the false and transphobic propaganda that trans people regret transition often. He agreed with accused “stochastic terrorists” about intimidating children’s hospitals with transphobic views. There have been many signs Musk was heading down a hateful path and companies were supporting it, they just chose to ignore them until it became too horrible to ignore.

Fascism always spreads hate from one group to the next. I’m glad Apple and IBM finally dropped support now, especially in a time when antisemitism is spreading alongside Islamophobia. But why did companies embolden Musk for so long? Why did they make him think his hate was acceptable?

Let’s Get This Out of the Way…

Since this post will discuss Musk’s history of hate speech, including comments some have called transphobic, I thought it would be important to provide context.

Hate exists without reason. Evidence opposes bigotry, but this is not a debate. In a debate, there are two equally opposing sides. It’s like the climate change discussion, between climate change scientists and uninformed science deniers. There is no debate when one side presents facts, studies, and historical data and the other side presents nothing but hate. It should always be our duty to stand against bigotry, even when we don’t fully understand the group of people bigots target with their attacks.

Now, this post is going to discuss hate speech, including antisemitic hate speech, racist hate speech, and transphobic hate speech. To the victims of this hate, I’m sorry you have to hear and read this so often.

Musk’s Old Hate

Let’s get something else out of the way as well. This isn’t the first time Elon Musk has exposed his own bigoted views. Musk had spoken out against transgender people long before he took over Twitter. Once he did, he unbanned members who had been banned for hate speech against transgender people, and changed the rules to allow harassment of trans people through deadnaming and misgendering. He agreed and brought attention to posts by transphobic platform “Libs of TikTok,” which has been banned from its namesake for, you guessed it, encouraging the kind of hate that leads to violence.

According to his biography, Musk also believes his daughter was somehow brainwashed with “neo-Marxist” ideology, which explains her dislike of him. His daughter, who is transgender, disowned him, and was apparently a key moment for the man who seemingly already held some transphobic views.

Musk has claimed “cisgender,” a term widely accepted in the medical community as a term for someone who identifies as the gender they were assigned at birth, is a slur. It’s obviously not. He has has pushed transphobic conspiracy theories that children are being sterilized in the name of transition. When the chance presents itself, he sides against scientific understanding of these people and instead sides with hate. It’s an ongoing pattern.

“This isn’t an accident. Elon Musk put up the ‘Bat Signal’ to homophobes, transphobes, racists and all manner of disinformation actors, encouraging them to flood onto Twitter”

– Imran Ahmed, CEO of Center for Countering Digital Hate

Musk’s Twitter wasn’t just a vile place for transgender people though either. After “Ye,” Kanye West, posted vile antisemitic hate speech, threatening to go “death con 3 [sic] On JEWISH PEOPLE.” Ye was banned, but Musk let him back on the platform later.

Musk’s Twitter has run antisemitic ads on the platform, and allowed a transphobic “timeline takeover” to push anti-trans propaganda. Musk is no stranger to hate, but this week he went too far.

Musk’s Mask’s Off

Screenshot via Media Matters of Twitter/X.

Musk responded to an antisemitic and racist tweet on Twitter that claimed Jewish people were pushing for “hatred against whites” and “hordes of minorities” “flooding their country.” The tweet itself was a response to a tweet challenging antisemitic people to justify their belief that “Hitler was right.” The chain of text implied that Jewish people are pushing for the replacement of white people, often called “The Great Replacement.” It’s a common antisemitic conspiracy theory that has inspired violence, like the Tree of Life synagogue shooter. Musk should have banned the user. He should have prevented that kind of hate from spreading on his platform. Instead he simply wrote, “You have said the actual truth.”

“It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of Antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

– Andrew Bates, White House Spokesperson

“At a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one’s influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories.”

– ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt

Musk followed up saying he doesn’t believe all Jewish people hate white people, just that he believes the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) “unjustly attacks the majority of the West.” He goes on to reiterate the very antisemitic and racist point of the original post, by stating, “This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat.” It’s almost as though Musk has just taken standard antisemitic conspiracy theories and hate speech and claimed he personally only applies it to the ADL.

Companies Will Flee

IBM and Apple were among the first companies to finally pull their support of Twitter. Lionsgate and the European Commission have also followed up by pulling their ads from Twitter. Some Jewish leaders think they haven’t gone far enough. 164 Jewish Leaders called out the companies supporting the hate that spreads on Twitter (X) with the open letter on xouthate.org. They call for more companies to pull their support of the platform that has become rife with the antisemitism that Musk has now personally supported. They also ask Apple and Google to go a step further, and pull the Twitter app from the App Store and Google Play Store. There’s precedent for that. They pulled far-right platform Parler after it allegedly helped attackers plan the 1/6 insurrection of the Capitol in 2020. With Musk agreeing with, and thereby promoting, such vile hate speech like that pushed by mass shooters, it could be time for Twitter to get the same treatment.

Other companies will surely follow suit this week. Twitter has been risky for brands since Musk took control of the platform, but with Musk outwardly agreeing with vile antisemitism, he may have finally pushed companies too far. No one wants to support this kind of hate.

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