Top advertising executives have reportedly urged Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X/Twitter, to resign following Elon Musk’s endorsement of an allegedly antisemitic post, leading to a halt in advertising spending by major companies.
Breitbart News previously reported that IBM and the EU recently made the decision to withdraw their advertising from X/Twitter owned by billionaire Elon Musk. This move comes in response to growing concerns about the presence of pro-Nazi content and other forms of “hate speech” on the platform, which have been highlighted by Musk’s own controversial tweets that the organizations view as endorsing antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Elon Musk looks puzzled (Anadolu Agency/Getty)
Breitbart News reported on the controversy of Musk replying with his agreement to a tweet widely viewed as antisemitic:
An X/Twitter user appeared to push the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, claiming that Jewish communities “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”
“I’m deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much,” the X/Twitter user added.
Musk responded to this post writing, “You have said the actual truth.”
Now, Forbes reports that X/Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino is being pressured to step down by leading advertising executives. Yaccarino, a former top executive at NBC, was tasked with revitalizing Twitter’s revenue and credibility among advertisers. However, the current crisis puts her own credibility at risk according to some in the industry, as the platform has become embroiled in controversy over Musk’s behavior. A number of advertising executives have directly reached out to Yaccarino, questioning her decision to remain in her position and suggesting that stepping down could make a strong statement against racism and antisemitism.
The situation intensified when Media Matters, a watchdog group, found that ads from companies like IBM and Amazon were being placed alongside content promoting Nazism and white nationalism. This prompted even more advertisers to withdraw their ads from Twitter, including prominent names like Apple, Disney, and IBM. The White House has also condemned Musk’s statements.
As Breitbart News previously reported, Musk strongly refuted the Media Matters report and the backlash by advertisers:
“This week Media Matters for America posted a story that completely misrepresented the real user experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers,” said X/Twitter in a statement refuting Media Matters’ research.
In a tweet in the early hours of Saturday morning, Musk said, “The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company.”
In response to the controversy, Yaccarino released a statement on Twitter emphasizing the platform’s stance against discrimination and antisemitism. However, her statement did not address the specific concerns raised about Musk’s endorsement of hateful content. This silence has only intensified calls for her resignation.
Yaccardino said in her statement: “X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should 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 extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There’s no place for it anywhere in the world — it’s ugly and wrong. Full stop.”
Yaccarino, upon her appointment as CEO, had promised to make Twitter a safer and more advertiser-friendly platform. Despite introducing new measures like machine learning-enhanced “Sensitivity Settings” to shield advertisers from inappropriate content, these efforts appear to have fallen short.
Read more at Forbes here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.