Elon Musk slams advertisers over leaving X amid anti-semitic content row

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has been facing major criticism on the social media platform since he showed his agreement with an X user who claimed Jewish people stroke hatred against white people by responding to an X post.

Following the incident, about 200 big advertisers on X including Disney, Apple and IBM stopped spending on advertisements on the microblogging platform. According to a New York Times report, if the pause on advertising by such giants continues, it would cost X up to $75 million in this quarter itself.

At the DealBook Summit, Musk also acknowledged that any extent of halting the advertisements could bankrupt X, while he also suggested that the public would blame the brands rather than him for the situation.

Prior to Musk's interview, the chief executive of Disney, Bob Iger, mentioned at the summit that “the association with that position, Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us”. Commenting on Iger’s statement, Musk mentioned at the summit that he “should have written in greater length what I meant.”

As reported by the New York Times, Musk added, “I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me and to those who are anti-semitic and for that, I am quite sorry.”

Previously in October, Musk visited Israel and toured the sites of Hamas’ assault in the country. Later, on Monday, November 27, the billionaire held a live-streamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on X.

Musk at the Summit clarified that his trip to Israel had been planned before his X posts and was ‘independent’ of the issue.