Antisemitism: Elon Musk threatens 'thermonuclear lawsuit' against Media Matters

Elon Musk announced on Saturday that he will launch a "thermonuclear lawsuit" against Media Matters, a non-profit watchdog, and other parties in response to reports that businesses like Disney, Apple, and IBM have stopped running advertisements on X due to an antisemitic outcry on the social networking platform.

Research revealed earlier this week by Media Matters, a US organisation that bills itself as "a progressive research and information centre" that keeps an eye on "media outlets for conservative misinformation," revealed that Elon Musk's X has placed advertisements next to articles that support the Nazi ideology.

Brands are now "protected from the risk of being next to" potentially hazardous content on the platform, according to X CEO Linda Yaccarino's prior statement.

"The split-second court opens on Monday," Musk said in a post on X on Saturday. "X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company," he said.

Musk also claimed that Media Matters "completely misrepresented the real user experience on X" in a statement he issued under the heading "Stand with X to protect free speech." 

He further stated that "for speech to be truly free, we must also have the freedom to see or hear things that some people may consider objectionable" as well as that "we will not allow agenda-driven activists, or even our profits, to deter our vision."

Musk, the owner of Space X and Tesla was already under criticism for inciting and tolerating racism on Twitter, which he acquired last year and rebranded as X. This week's most recent incident had Musk endorsing an antisemitic post on X as "the actual truth" of what Jews were doing.

“Jewish communities (sic) have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against Whites that they claim people should stop using against them,” the antisemitic post stated. The article also included the widely held antisemitic conspiracy myth about "hordes of minorities" invading Western nations.

The tweet that Musk was replying to included a conspiracy theory that inspired the person who slaughtered 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, according to the White House, which denounced the post.

Media sources state that Disney, IBM, Apple, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Comcast, Lionsgate, and Warner Bros. Discovery are among the businesses that have stopped running advertisements on X.

According to an internal memo obtained by Politico's Playbook, the communications department of the European Commission in Brussels has requested that all EU executive agencies cease airing advertisements on X due to "widespread concerns relating to the spread of disinformation."