By amplifying an antisemitic conspiracy theory, Elon Musk has arguably killed off X.com, 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 is “the actual truth” – he crossed a line that Twitter will never recover from.
Having already halved its value from the $44 billion he paid for it last October, Musk has effectively wiped out the rest. Twitter makes its money from advertising. After he fired 80% of the staff, including the content moderation teams, advertisers fled in droves.
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 morally reprehensible – and unforgivable – for any right-minded person.
There’s no coming back from this. Just ask Ye, the rampant antisemitic formerly known as Kanye West.
Twitter is (officially) dead
Some of the biggest names in tech and Hollywood have stopped advertising on Twitter. This includes Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Comcast/NBCUniversal and Lionsgate – as have IBM, Apple, Oracle and Xfinity, whose adverts appeared next to antisemitic posts glorifying Hitler and Nazis.
Most antisemitic conspiracy theories are patently rubbish. I could explain and unpack the most virulent, but the Nazis did a pretty good job of showing how ridiculous and unsubstantiated these generalised slurs are.
The latest conspiracy theory – known as “replacement theory” – argues that Jews are somehow influencing the global migration of immigrants 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 (literally) 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 the countries they move to. That Musk himself is an immigrant, while former #presidunce Donald Trump’s wife also is, just adds to the painful irony of this ignorant right-wing debate in America.
Let’s call it white supremacist narcissism. It’s not about you, you wunch of bankers.
Read More: Twitter’s rotten first anniversary under Elon Musk
Musk – the self-defined “free speech absolutist” – thinks he has created an environment to say anything, as if all its users have the moral code to know what is patently 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 is also patently untrue – as the EU will no doubt find in its many investigations into its indefensible surge since Much took over.
Antisemitism, islamophobia, misogyny and generalised disinformation are rampant on X (as we might as well call it, given how vastly different it now is from Twitter) and Musk is the chief enabler – if not retweeter.
What he has actually enabled is the death of the advertising business that supported what was formerly known as the “digital town square”.
R.I.P Twitter.
- This column first appeared in Financial Mail