[ad_1]
IBM Corp.
IBM,
has abruptly pulled ads from X, formerly Twitter, amid a maelstrom of controversial comments from billionaire owner Elon Musk and the placement of an IBM ad.
“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation,” the company said in a statement emailed to MarketWatch.
IBM suspended advertising following a report in the Financial Times on Thursday that IBM ads appeared next to posts supporting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, pro.
On Wednesday, Musk agreed with a post on X that an antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jewish people hold a “dialectical hatred” of white people. “You have said the actual truth,” Musk said in response to the post.
Compounding matters, Musk on Thursday said on X it was “super messed up” that white people are not, in the words of one far-right user’s tweet, “allowed to be proud of their race.”
Adding fuel to the fire, Musk said on Wednesday the Jewish advocacy group the Anti-Defamation League “unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel.” [Musk has threatened to sue the ADL because of its criticism of lax moderation practices on X that allowed anti-Semitism to spread.]
The cascading conflagration prompted Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
bull and investment adviser Ross Gerber to grumble on X: “Getting a flood of messages from clients wanting out of tesla and anything to do with Elon Musk. Many saying they are selling their cars as well. What is he doing to the tesla brand??!!?!?”
X was not immediately available for comment.
The posts come amid a wave of antisemitism on digital forums including X and a downturn in advertising on the platform linked to hate speech and misinformation. In July, Musk said ad revenue had plunged about 50%.
The latest Musk kerfuffle is likely to complicate the efforts of X Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino, who was hired from Comcast Corp.’s
CMCSA,
NBCUniversal in June to sway advertising agencies and major brands to stay on X or join.
Tesla shares fell nearly 4% on Thursday, but are still up about 90% year to date.
[ad_2]
Source link
