By amplifying an antisemitic conspiracy theory, Elon Musk has arguably killed off X, the once-thriving social platform formerly called Twitter. But because he’s in such an ivory tower — and convinced of his own rectitude — he doesn’t realise how far his arrogance and impulsiveness have taken him over the edge.
Last week, when Musk retweeted this nonsense and claimed it was “the actual truth”, he crossed a line from which X will never recover.
Having already halved its value from the $44bn he paid for it last October, Musk has effectively wiped out the rest. X makes its money from advertising. After he fired 80% of the staff, including the content moderation teams, advertisers fled.
Hiring advertising industry heavyweight Linda Yaccarino as CEO was a smart move and seemed to shore up those sales. But endorsing antisemitic conspiracy lies is reprehensible — and unforgivable.
There’s no coming back from this. Just ask Ye, the rampant antisemite formerly known as Kanye West.
Some of the biggest names in tech and Hollywood have stopped advertising on X. This includes Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Comcast NBCUniversal and Lionsgate. So too have IBM, Apple, Oracle and Xfinity, whose adverts appeared next to antisemitic posts glorifying Hitler and Nazis.
Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, misogyny and generalised disinformation are rampant on X
Most antisemitic conspiracy theories are rubbish. I could explain and unpack the most virulent, but the Nazis did a pretty good job of showing how ridiculous and unsubstantiated these slurs are.
The latest conspiracy theory — known as “replacement theory” — argues that Jews are somehow influencing the global migration from (you guessed it) darker parts of the world to richer Western countries so that they can take the jobs of all the lazy (paler) inhabitants. Or something.
This so-called replacement theory is so unhinged in logic that it fails to notice that those poor immigrants are desperate for a future for themselves and their children. It also fails to notice that immigrants tend to be an economic infusion into countries they move to. That Musk is an immigrant, as is former president Donald Trump’s wife, just adds to the painful irony of this ignorant right-wing debate in the US.
Let’s call it white supremacist narcissism.
Musk — the self-defined “free speech absolutist” — thinks he has created an environment to say anything, as if all X users have the moral code to know what is untrue or just racist, hurtful and indefensible hate speech. Arguing that people should be able to read all of this misinformation and hate speech and filter it is also untrue — as the EU will no doubt find in its many investigations into content since Musk took over.
Antisemitism, Islamophobia, misogyny and general disinformation are rampant on X and Musk is the chief enabler.
What he has enabled is the death of the advertising business that supported what was once known as the “digital town square”. RIP Twitter.
* Shapshak is editor-in-chief of Stuff.co.za and executive director of Scrolla.Africa
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