Elon Musk on June 16, 2023. Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images

By Adam Kovac, Forward StaffDecember 3, 2024

Elon Musk has long been accused of fostering hate speech, conspiracy theories and other bigotry and misinformation on X. When he bought the social media platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022, he fired most of the company’s engineers that were involved in moderating content, and reinstated many users who had been banned from the platform.

Musk has also made a number of disturbing comments himself, including promoting a QAnon conspiracy theory and antisemitism. He sometimes quotes Nazis and he has had chummy exchanges with avowed bigots. In addition, he’s clashed with the Anti-Defamation League, which has criticized him for permitting hate speech on X.

Since Musk’s acquisition, groups that track hate speech have documented spikes in racist, xenophobic and antisemitic activity on the platform.

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In November 2024, president-elect Donald Trump tapped Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, another tech entrepreneur, to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency.

The following is a running list of every instance of antisemitic activity involving Musk we have found so far. See one we missed? Send to editorial@forward.com, subject line: Musk + Antisemitism.

May 2, 2024: Musk reinstated the X account of Nick Fuentes, the Holocaust denier and antisemite who has said “perfidious Jews” should be executed. “It is better to have anti whatever out in the open to be rebutted,” Musk wrote, “than grow simmering in the darkness.”

March 18, 2024: In an interview with Don Lemon, Musk downplayed his past antisemitic comments. “If I quote something, it doesn’t mean I agree with anything and everything in it,” Musk said. “It’s just that I think this is something people should consider.” Lemon pressed Musk about a 2023 study that showed that antisemitic posts doubled since Musk took control of the platform in October 2022. Another report found that 86% of the posts reported for hateful content remained up. “If nobody reads it, it doesn’t matter,” Musk argued, separating between the number of antisemitic posts and the views the content received.

Jan. 22, 2024: After years of criticism from the Jewish community, Musk visited Auschwitz, where he said that had social media been around at the time, the Holocaust “would have been impossible to hide.” (Word of the camps did get out at the time of the Holocaust, but many chose to ignore it. Holocaust scholars say Musk’s “fantasy scenario” is far-fetched.)

Nov. 15, 2023: On a post that invoked the “great replacement theory,” accusing Jews of “flooding their country” with “hordes of minorities,” Musk replied to a user “You have said the actual truth.” Major corporations, including Apple and Disney, pulled their ads from the platform.

Sept. 4, 2023: White supremacist Nick Fuentes, on his America First livestream, applauded Musk’s engagement with a #BantheADL campaign on Twitter, including Musk having “tweeted 28 times in just the last 24 hours about this campaign.”

Sept. 4, 2023: Musk accused the ADL of being the “biggest generators of anti-Semitism” on Twitter and threatened a $4 billion lawsuit against them, saying they’d scared away advertisers.

Sept. 1, 2023: Tens of thousands of X users began using the hashtag #BantheADL, accusing the organization of hindering free speech by demanding that social media platforms sanction neo-Nazis and other extremists who promote antisemitism, racism and other bigotry. Musk liked one of the posts. The ADL had previously called for advertisers to pause their spending on X.

August 18, 2023: The Auschwitz Memorial and Museum criticized Musk for rejecting the museum’s complaint about Holocaust deniers who tweet vitriolic, antisemitic messages.

June 8, 2023: Musk replied with laughing emojis to a tweet from Andrew Torba, the founder and CEO of far-right social media platform Gab. Torba is one of the most outspoken and unrepentant antisemites in the United States: in July 2022, he said on Gab TV: “This is a Christian nation. Christians outnumber you, by a lot. A lot. And we’re not gonna listen to 2%. You represent 2% of the country, OK? We’re not bending the knee to the 2% anymore.” Other antisemitic incidents have included accusing Jews of stifling freedom of speech, reposting claims to Gab that Jews seek to “psychologically and spiritually” castrate Americans, promoted the “great replacement theory” and stated that Jews like Ben Shapiro are “not welcome in the movement unless he repents and accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior.”

June 7, 2023: Musk responded to an antisemitic tweet about adrenochrome and actor-director Mel Gibson. The tweet contrasted a photo of President Joe Biden with his eyes closed and Gibson — who once blamed all wars on Jews and whose father was a Holocaust denier — in a muscle-bearing tank top. The tweet implied that Biden uses adrenachrome, a chemical that, according to QAnon conspiracy theorists, is harvested by a shadowy cabal (often comprised of Jews) through the trafficking and sexual abuse of children. Gibson is praised for hating “the Js,” or Jews. Musk’s response was to admire Gibson’s physique.

May 29, 2023: Musk tweeted the quote, “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are allowed to criticize.” The quote is often erroneously attributed to Voltaire but is from neo-Nazi Kevin Alfred Strom.

May 15, 2023: Musk compared George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist, to the X-Men comic book villain Magneto and followed up by saying Soros hates humanity. In X-Men canon, Magneto is, like Soros, a Holocaust survivor, an experience that leads him to work toward the destruction of humankind. The tweet earned an admonishment from Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which was later retracted.

A day later, after criticism from the Anti-Defamation League, Musk tweeted: The “ADL should drop the A.”

Jan. 24, 2023: Musk reinstated to Twitter Nick Fuentes, a live-streamer well-known for his antisemitic views, included repeated praise of Hitler. He was banned again soon after.

Dec. 22, 2022: Andrew Anglin, founder of the Daily Stormer, was reinstated to Twitter and immediately posted about Hitler. Anglin remained on the site until April, when he was banned again. 

Dec. 19, 2022: Musk exchanged tweets with Kim Schmitz, a pioneer of online piracy who goes by Kim Dotcom and is known for bigoted views. Schmitz, who owns a copy of Mein Kampf signed by Hitler, has made comments in the past about Jews running Hollywood.

Dec. 12, 2022: Former Twitter employee Yoel Roth fled his home over safety concerns after a deluge of antisemitic threats sparked by repeated Musk criticism.

Nov. 27, 2022: Musk called Alexander Vindman, a decorated Jewish military veteran and witness against former President Donald Trump, “both puppet & puppeteer,” echoing white supremacist rhetoric about Jews and political power.

Nov. 22, 2022: Musk tweeted “stop defaming me” at the ADL, prompting an interaction that ended with disgraced rapper Kanye West, in the midst of a monthslong spree of antisemitic comments, saying “Shalom.”

Nov. 8, 2022: Musk posted a picture of a Nazi soldier in a tweet that now was later deleted.

October 2022: Musk welcomed West back to Twitter, then banned him again for “inciting violence” after West tweeted a photo of a logo that appeared to combine a Star of David with a swastika.

Feb. 17, 2022: Musk tweeted a meme comparing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Hitler; it was later deleted. The tweet sparked an indirect response from the United States Holocaust Museum admonishing Musk.

May 17, 2020: Musk tweeted “Take the Red Pill,” a phrase often associated with QAnon. The phrase is a reference to the film The Matrix, in which a red pill leads to awakening into the “real world” that is normally hidden. A reply by Ivanka Trump — then serving in the White House — saying “Taken!” garnered a reply from Lilly Wachowski, the co-director of the film, saying “F— both of you.”

May 26, 2018: During an interaction with NBC reporter Ben Collins, Musk tweeted, “Who do you think owns the press?” which many viewed as repeating an antisemitic trope about Jews. Musk followed up by saying anyone who thought it was antisemitic was revealing their “inner bigot.”

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