New York
CNN
—
Elon Musk — who was broadly criticized for an antisemitic put up on his social media website, X, two months in the past — stated following a go to to Auschwitz Monday that X has much less antisemitic content material than different social media platforms. However Musk conceded that he wasn’t conscious till just lately that antisemitism was a pervasive drawback in the USA.
Musk made the feedback throughout an interview at a convention hosted by the European Jewish Affiliation close to the positioning of the Auschwitz in Poland. It comes after Musk confronted a firestorm of backlash over antisemitic content material on X, together with a put up with an antisemitic conspiracy idea that Musk himself amplified (and later apologized for within the wake of condemnation.)
“It’s by no means going to be zero in case you’ve acquired 600 million folks on the platform, anticipating it to be zero is fairly unlikely,” Musk stated of antisemitism on X. He added that X has “the least quantity of antisemitism” in comparison with different main platforms, though he cited no proof for that declare past referencing “exterior audits that we’ve had performed.”
Musk in November agreed with a post on X that claimed that Jewish communities push “hatred towards Whites,” calling it the “precise fact.” The antisemitic conspiracy idea that Jews need to carry undocumented minority populations into Western nations to scale back White majorities in these nations has been espoused by on-line hate teams. Musk’s put up led to a rebuke from the White Home and a serious exodus of advertisers.
Musk later apologized for the post, however advised advertisers who halted their spending on X over issues about antisemitic content material to “go f**ok” themselves.
Musk has additionally repeatedly criticized the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a corporation that fights antisemitism world wide, and confronted criticism for permitting pro-Nazi content material to stay stay on X. (Musk had earlier additionally threatened to sue the ADL, however later walked back that menace.)
The billionaire has additionally confronted strain for selling different conspiracy theories on X, together with the dangerous Pizzagate theory.
Within the wake of strain over his management of the platform, Musk in November visited Israel, assembly the nation’s leaders and strolling via a kibbutz destroyed by Hamas in its October 7 assault.
Musk on Monday once more expressed his assist for the Israeli folks, calling himself “aspirationally Jewish,” and stated that hate towards Jewish folks have to be addressed. As a part of Monday’s occasion, the billionaire seems to have made a go to to Auschwitz alongside along with his younger son.
However regardless of issues about an uptick in antisemitic content material on X, Musk additionally admitted that he had been considerably “naive” in regards to the recent surge in antisemitism throughout the USA that has been recorded for the reason that begin of the Israel-Hamas warfare.
“I have to admit to being considerably frankly naive. Within the circles that I transfer, I see nearly no antisemitism,” he stated.
The billionaire continued to tout his “free speech” imaginative and prescient for X, saying that “relentless pursuit of the reality is the objective with X and permitting folks to say what they need to say, even when it’s controversial offered, offered that it doesn’t break the regulation.”
Musk additionally inspired extra world leaders to put up on the platform and appeared to reference his previous controversial posts as “errors.” However he stated he thinks that greater than 169 million folks observe him on X as a result of “I actually attempt to say issues that I believe are fascinating or humorous,” though “as soon as some time I’ll do one thing dumb.”
“It’s solely me doing these posts. I don’t have a crew or something,” he stated. He inspired different leaders to put up on social media with out filtering messages via employees. “Each every so often you make a mistake. You possibly can’t win all of them. No one bats 1,000.”