Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has publicly backed an antisemitic conspiracy theory prevalent among White supremacists, claiming that Jewish communities promote “hatred against Whites.”
Even some of Musk’s opponents were taken aback by his open support for an anti-Semitic message. Musk has often been chastised for using racist or otherwise bigoted dog whistles on Twitter, now known as X. It was the multibillionaire’s most direct public endorsement of anti-Jewish sentiments to date.
In case you missed it, Musk was replying to a Wednesday post in which he said that Jewish communities “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.” The message allegedly alluded to “hordes of minorities” invading Western countries, a common antisemitic conspiracy theory.
It’s the type of message you can easily find on X these days, and it would have gone undetected if Musk, who has over 160 million followers, hadn’t re-shared it with the comment: “You have said the actual truth.”
Why does it matter?
Hate organisations frequently promote the antisemitic conspiracy idea, which holds that Jews intend to transfer illegal minority populations into Western countries in order to diminish White majorities in those countries.
It’s the same conspiracy that inspired the final written words of Robert Bowers, the convicted murderer of 11 people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018. His most recent social media post claimed that a Jewish refugee relief organisation “likes to bring in invaders who kill our people.” The mass shooting was the bloodiest anti-Jewish act in American history.
Musk elaborated on his points in future posts. He stated that he does not believe that hate of White people extends “to all Jewish communities.” However, he then singled out the Anti-Defamation League, stating that it fosters prejudice against White people.
X did not react to comment inquiries.
In response, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt stated that “it is indisputably dangerous to use one’s influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories.”
Musk has rarely been so forthright. However, as the owner of X, he has chosen to support racists’ free speech over the targets’ right not to be harassed, including threatening to sue the ADL for defamation after the organisation reported an increase in antisemitism on X after Musk took over the site more than a year ago.
There is no way to know what is going on within Musk’s head. We can only rely on what he says and does from his very public and strong position. Hate speech, whether expressed directly or indirectly by Musk, is amplified when the world’s richest person posts or comments on it.
“It’s doubtful that Musk harbours personal animosity towards Jewish people,” said Yair Rosenberg of the Atlantic earlier this year, referring to another occasion in which Musk made anti-Semitic remarks. “But he is a conspiracy theorist, and the arc of conspiracy is short and bends towards the Jews.”
There are two popular books about Musk available right now: an authorised biography by Walter Isaacson and an unauthorised tale by Ben Mezrich.
In recent weeks, Mezrich has told multiple interviewers that “Elon Musk broke Twitter, and Twitter broke Elon Musk.”
It’s a snappy sentence, and I’m sure it’s correct in some aspects. Mezrich tells how Musk’s reputation as a modern-day Thomas Edison was irreparably tarnished by the chaotic Twitter takeover, with Americans now strongly divided over whether he’s a genius or a hacker. According to Mezrich, Musk has been personally pained by the backlash, including being booed onstage at a comedy gig and feeling so depressed that X staff discussed contacting the police to check on him.
The statement could be partially correct. There’s lots of evidence that Musk destroyed Twitter, gutting it, rebranding it, destroying its profitability, and rendering it unrecognisable to its most active users. But Musk had been doing this for a long time, propagating various conspiracy ideas, particularly about the Covid epidemic.
He purchased Twitter in order to have a private venue to promote broken ideas to only himself and his followers.
