Tesla shares dropped 4% on Thursday after Elon Musk endorsed an antisemitic post on his personal X account, while IBM announced it would stop advertising on the social media platform after it discovered its ads beside pro-Nazi content.
In the tweet posted Wednesday, Musk endorsed a verified account named @breakingbaht, which wrote, “Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”
Musk responded: “You have said the actual truth.”
The tweet was later deleted, but screenshots of the comments were rampant on social media platform.
Meanwhile, IBM pulled all placements with Musk’s embattled X, which he purchased one year ago last month.
“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,” a spokesperson said in a statement to media.
IBM’s decision followed a Media Matters report that found X placing its ads alongside content that “touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.” Other affected companies include Apple, Bravo, Oracle and Xfinity, per the report.
The public reaction to Musk’s tweet and ongoing hate speech on X, formerly known as Twitter, seemed to have many ripple effects. Musk was replaced with Sen. John Kerry as a speaker at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit’s Thursday sessions, centered on artificial intelligence. APEC cited a “schedule change.”
“Elon Musk had a schedule change that prevented him from joining the APEC CEO Summit 2023,” the APEC CEO Summit 2023 said in a statement to media. “We’re thankful for his offer to join the session remotely, however, it was agreed among all speakers that participating would be in person.”
Elsewhere, the influential investment advisor Ross Gerber determined Musk’s behavior was ultimately, “sadly” a win for Tesla competitor Rivian. “I will be replacing my Tesla Model Y for a Rivian next year, and I’m sure the rest of L.A. will as well.”
Sadly, this is a win for Rivian… I will be replacing my Tesla model Y for a Rivian next year and I'm sure the rest of LA will as well. $RIVN $TSLA
— Ross Gerber (@GerberKawasaki) November 16, 2023
The Tesla CEO and X owner appeared to defend himself Thursday afternoon, responding with an affirmative “100” emoji to a verified user rising to his aid, tweeting: “Elon isn’t antisemitic … Emotions are causing people to lose their minds.”
He also endorsed a tweet saying that those “trashing” Musk for criticizing “progressive Jewish organizations for their anti-white policies” are not “serious” people.
“Bullseye!” he wrote.
The social media platform’s CEO Linda Yaccarino responded to the matter in kind, tweeting Thursday that “X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should stop across the board — I think that’s something we can and should all agree on.”
“When it comes to this platform — X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There’s no place for it anywhere in the world — it’s ugly and wrong,” she wrote. “Full stop.”
