Elon Musk, the founder of X (previously Twitter), is considering holding a poll on whether to ban the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from his social media platform, as the hashtag #BanTheADL trended on X.
“Perhaps we should run a poll on this?” Musk responded on Saturday to a post claiming that the pattern shows that people are tired of “the ‘we’re labeling everything we don’t like as hateful/racist/dangerous/far-right’ BS” and are no longer fearful of the ADL’s “intimidation tactics.”
According to media sources, the campaign was launched after a meeting between the ADL’s national head, Jonathan Greenblatt, and X CEO Linda Yaccarino, during which the “rampant hate speech” on the site was discussed.
Greenblatt’s tweet about the “very frank + productive conversation” prompted several major conservative accounts to respond.
One of the users called the ADL and similar groups “radical left wing hate groups,” to which Musk responded: “it would be difficult to describe them as centrist.” He said in another tweet that the “ADL has tried very hard to strangle X/Twitter.”
Musk’s conflict with the ADL began immediately after the industrialist purchased Twitter in April 2022, following Musk’s cancellation of intended plans for a “moderation council.”
The ADL and other civil rights organizations have asked for a complete ban on advertising on the platform until the firm tackles hate speech and other content moderation issues.
Musk claimed at the time that Twitter’s lack of a moderating committee was due to “a vast coalition of political/social activists.” He went on to say that, despite their pledge to “not try to kill Twitter by starving us of advertising revenues,” provided the requirements are met, the activists “broke the deal” by failing to meet their half of the bargain.
