IBM pulls ads from X after Elon Musk’s inflammatory comments about white pride

IBM suspended advertising after a a report The Financial Times reported Thursday that IBM ads appeared next to posts supporting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. A study by Media Matters also found ads from Apple Inc.

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Oracle Corporation

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And Comcast

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Xfinity and Bravo were adjacent to the pro-Nazi content.

On Wednesday, Musk approved a post on X supporting the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jewish people hold a “controversial hatred” for white people. “You told the actual truth,” Musk wrote in response to the post.

Complicating matters further, Musk said Thursday on X that it is “absolutely absurd” that white people, in the words of one far-right user, “aren’t allowed to be proud of their race.”

To make matters worse, Musk said on Wednesday that the Jewish advocacy group the Anti-Defamation League “unfairly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West’s support for the Jewish people and Israel.” (Musk has He threatened to sue the ADL Because of her criticism of lax moderation practices on X which she says has allowed anti-Semitism to spread.)

The successive fires prompted Tesla to fire.

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Bull and investment advisor Ross Gerber complains about

An X executive told MarketWatch that the company “scanned” accounts adjacent to IBM’s ads. These accounts “will no longer be monetizable” and certain posts will be labeled “sensitive media.”

The executive said that 99% of ad placements measured on X this year appeared next to content that scored “above the minimum brand safety threshold” set by industry standards.

Late Thursday, X CEO Linda Yaccarino tweeted: “X’s view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone has to stop across the board — I think that’s something we can and should all agree on.” When it comes to this platform, X has also been very clear about our efforts to combat anti-Semitism and discrimination. There is no place for that anywhere in the world, it is ugly and it is wrong. Period.”

The posts and ad placement come amid a wave of anti-Semitism on digital forums including X and a decline in ads on the platform linked to hate speech and misinformation. Musk said in July that advertising revenues were down about 50%.

The latest dispute is likely to complicate the efforts of Yaccarino, who was hired in June from Comcast Corp.

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NBCUniversal to influence ad agencies and major brands to stay on or start relationships with the platform now known as X.

Tesla shares fell about 4% on Thursday but are still up about 90% so far in 2023.