ADL CEO says Elon Musk’s insinuation to sue over defamation is merely a ‘threat of a frivolous lawsuit’

Elon Musk’s current feedback insinuating that the real-time messaging service previously referred to as Twitter may file a defamation lawsuit towards the Anti-Defamation League is merely a “threat of a frivolous lawsuit,” the nonprofit’s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt mentioned Tuesday.

In a press release shared with CNBC, Greenblatt dismissed allegations Musk revamped the Labor Day weekend, through which he claimed the ADL was “trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic.” The nonprofit’s CEO added that Musk’s “behavior is not just alarming nor reckless.”

“It is flat out dangerous and deeply irresponsible,” Greenblatt mentioned. “We need responsible leaders to lead, to stop inflaming hatred and to step back from the brink before it’s too late.”

The ADL chief’s feedback come after Musk claimed on Monday that the ADL was answerable for placing “pressure on advertisers” that led to a 60% drop in X’s promoting income. Musk alleged that the ADL “has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic,” ever since he purchased the messaging service final fall in a deal value roughly $44 billion.

Musk mentioned X, the corporate previously referred to as Twitter, would have “no selection however to file a defamation lawsuit” if the ADL continues to allegedly stress advertisers.

Multiple civil rights teams and researchers have documented an increase in hate speech, racist feedback and different inflammatory posts on X after Musk gained management of the messaging app final fall.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate nonprofit, as an illustration, printed a report in June that claimed X didn’t take motion towards a number of subscribers of Twitter Blue, now known as X Premium, after they posted inflammatory content material.

In August, X sued the CCDH in federal courtroom alleging that the nonprofit illegally obtained knowledge from X utilizing strategies like knowledge scraping to “falsely claim it had statistical support showing the platform is overwhelmed with harmful content.” X’s attorneys alleged that the CCDH’s research had been based mostly upon “flawed methodologies” and induced advertisers to cease operating promotional campaigns on the messaging service, thus damaging X’s business.

Last week, Greenblatt mentioned in an X publish that he had a “very frank + productive conversation” with newly appointed X CEO Linda Yaccarino on how “to address hate effectively on the platform,” including that he “appreciated her reaching out and I’m hopeful the service will improve.”

Greenblatt mentioned he would give each the previous world promoting chief at NBCUniversal and Musk “credit if the service gets better… and reserve the right to call them out until it does.”

Shortly after Greenblatt commented about his dialog, #BanTheADL started trending on X as some customers known as for the nonprofit to be banned from the messaging platform. For occasion, Nick Fuentes, a far-right livestreamer who has beforehand made antisemitic feedback, urged his viewers to contribute to the #BanTheADL marketing campaign.

Musk then started participating with a few of the anti-ADL posts on X, liking a few of the feedback and even responding to them.

“ADL has tried very hard to strangle X/Twitter,” Musk mentioned, replying to the YouTube streamer Keith Woods, who the ADL has beforehand mentioned has produced antisemitic content material.

“It is profoundly disturbing that Elon Musk spent the weekend engaging with a highly toxic, antisemitic campaign on his platform — a campaign started by an unrepentant bigot that then was heavily promoted by individuals such as white supremacist Nick Fuentes, Christian nationalist Andrew Torba, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and others,” Greenblatt mentioned. “Finally, we saw the campaign manifest in the real world when masked men marched in Florida on Saturday brazenly waving flags adorned with swastikas and chanting ‘Ban the ADL.'”

X didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the father or mother firm of CNBC.

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