Little Musk Who Cries ‘Wolf’ Daily Now Claims Twitter/X Is Going to Sue the Anti-Defamation League

Rebecca Bellan, reporting for TechCrunch:

In the newest uproar you might have missed, Elon Musk says X, formerly Twitter, will file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League. Musk accused the ADL, an organization that works to combat antisemitism, extremism and bigotry, of falsely accusing him and X of being antisemitic.

“To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony!” tweeted the billionaire celebrity on Monday.

Musk also blamed the ADL for X’s falling U.S. advertising revenue. “Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!” said Musk.

Musk started off this latest tirade by claiming to be pro-free speech, but “against anti-Semitism of any kind.”

Musk claims he’s going to do all sorts of crazy shit. Sometimes he actually goes through with it, like the time he said he was going to buy Twitter and take it private. Most of the time, though, he doesn’t. We need to stop reporting on what he says and focus mostly on what he does. Just two weeks ago I began using this headline play on the proverbial Little Boy Who Cried Wolf when Musk declared that Twitter/X was going to get rid of the block feature. He might still go through with that threat, but it hasn’t happened, and I suspect it won’t.

So why am I even linking to this threat against the ADL? Because what has already happened is odious and noteworthy. A weekend-long trending “BanTheADL” hashtag that not only wasn’t suppressed, but was bolstered by Musk himself. Now this “It’s all the Jews’ fault” excuse in the form of the lawsuit threat — it doesn’t really matter if Musk follows through and sues (it’d be a nonsensical suit), the damage is that Twitter’s most popular user — who happens to own it — is openly courting antisemites.

★ Tuesday, 5 September 2023