More than a dozen U.S. and Canadian Jewish groups said Tuesday they will leave the social media platform X, stating it “has become rife with toxic speech” amid Elon Musk’s changes to the popular social networking app.
“More than a dozen U.S. and Canadian Jewish groups said Tuesday they will leave the social media platform X, stating it “has become rife with toxic speech,” a coalition of 15 Jewish groups wrote in a statement Tuesday.
The groups cited Musk’s rollback of content moderation policies and argued he has “promoted white supremacists and re-platformed purveyors of conspiracy theories.”
“Musk himself has re-posted content that is antisemitic and xenophobic, promoting it to his millions of followers,” the statement wrote. “The hateful posts on X are harmful to Jews and people of all faiths and no faiths.”
The groups said they will “transition away” from actively engaging on X in the first quarter of 2025, while noting some accounts will be maintained to ensure their handles do not go to other entities with “values contrary” to their own.
“But rather than contribute to the coarsening of discourse that is so pervasive on X, going forward, we will post content elsewhere,” the group said.
Musk, who purchased the platform in 2022, has faced yearslong backlash over his leadership at X, which has included reinstating several conspiracy theorists’ accounts and changes to content moderation policies that have allegedly allowed more posts with hate speech to permeate on the platform.
Musk, for his part, is under fire for a gesture he made during an inaugural event for President Trump last week that was widely panned by Democratic lawmakers and critics for resembling a Nazi salute.
He has denied the allegations, stating those making the comparison were using “dirty tricks” to tear him down. The tech billionaire later mocked the accusations with a post full of wordplay and references to Nazi leaders, drawing further criticism.
Just over a year ago, Musk sparked backlash when he appeared to endorse a post promoting an antisemitic conspiracy theory and later went after the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Several companies halted their ad spending on the platform following reports their ads were placed next to posts celebrating Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party on the platform.
The Hill reached out to X for comment.
