(LifeSiteNews) — Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk said Monday that he might “have no choice” but to sue the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for defamation over its claims that Twitter/X under Musk platforms anti-semitism.
“To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony!” said Musk, who purchased X (formerly known as Twitter) in a $44 billion deal last year.
To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
A self-professed “free speech absolutist,” Musk made the comment on X amid a public conversation with popular conservative account Libs of TikTok, run by Jewish American activist Chaya Raichik, about the ADL’s alleged efforts to stifle content on the platform.
Raichik has faced ongoing outrage and pushback from leftists for her work exposing radicalism across the country, with a large focus on gender ideology and the sexualization of children.
In a Monday post, Raichik asked Musk to “consider releasing all communications and providing full transparency on the ADL & all other organizations who have pushed to censor certain accounts on Twitter/X,” making the request on behalf of the “Thousands of users who have been suspended throttled, silenced, and shadowbanned.”
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Raichik made the request after posted a screenshot of an earlier message in which Musk said the league “has pushed hard for us to shut down accounts like Chaya’s, even though it has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, which is their supposed charter!”
Seemingly affirming Raichik’s request, Musk said that a “giant data dump” concerning the ADL “would clear the air.” He suggested that “data dump” might occur as soon as next week.
Musk also said a defamation lawsuit against the ADL might be in order.
BREAKING: Elon suggests he will release all the data relating to the ADL and other organizations pushing to censor and silence X accounts 👀
We need a full list of which organizations pushed for censorship and which accounts were affected!
THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET WILD pic.twitter.com/SdHmWf9A7T
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 4, 2023
The comments come after the ADL publicly claimed in March 2023 after Musk’s acquisition of the social media company that “(d)espite purported changes to its policy enforcement and the stated intent of its management, Twitter continues to host antisemitic threats and tropes.”
“Twitter claims its current approach to content moderation is to prioritize de-amplification over removal,” the ADL said. “While we have no way to actually verify if the company is de-amplifying antisemitic content, we have found that Twitter is failing to take down tweets that clearly violate hateful conduct policies.”
READ: Elon Musk officially takes over Twitter, reportedly wastes no time firing top executives
According to Musk, the ADL’s report was false and has led to the drastic and undeserved devaluation of his social media platform.
“Since the acquisition, [the ADL] has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic,” Musk wrote on X.
“Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by [ADL] (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter,” he added. “If this continues, we will have no choice but to file a defamation suit against, ironically, the ‘Anti-Defamation’ League.”
He joked that if the ADL loses “the defamation suit, we will insist that they drop [the] ‘anti’ part of their name, since obviously …”
According to CNN, the ADL has said it doesn’t comment on potential legal actions against it as a policy matter. However, a spokesperson responded to the comments from Musk and subsequent reaction on X by claiming that the leftist organization “is unsurprised yet undeterred that antisemites, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and other trolls have launched a coordinated attack on our organization.”
“This type of thing is nothing new,” the spokesperson said.
On Monday, Musk argued that “the ADL pursues a far-left political agenda, rather than focusing on combating anti-Semitism.”
“To be super clear, I’m pro free speech, but against anti-Semitism of any kind,” the billionaire said.
The ADL was founded over a century ago, ostensibly to combat anti-Jewish sentiment in the U.S., but has been called out by conservatives for advancing radical left-wing racial ideology that asserts that society oppresses minorities and privileges white people. In recent years, the ADL has expanded into opposing so-called “extremism” more generally, which in practice often actually means attacking mainstream Christian and/or conservative views, LifeSiteNews has reported.
RELATED: The ADL goes to war against X (Twitter), but Elon Musk vows to fight back