Let’s play a board game called “What’s the dumbest thing Elon Musk has ever done?”
Is this about promoting tweets from openly anti-Semites and racists on X, formerly Twitter, the social media platform he owns? Accepting anti-Semitic tweets is?
Or was it, telling some of the biggest companies in the world to, uh, perform a sexual act on themselves because they stopped advertising on the platform? (Warning: link not secure for work.)
Perhaps the most significant reward comes from the reactivation of thousands of accounts of Nazis, white supremacists and purveyors of disinformation that had been banned from Twitter by its previous leadership?
We tried peace for 2 years, now it’s war.
Elon Musk Announces Lawsuit Against Companies That Refuse to Place Ads on X
Actually, my vote goes to Federal lawsuit X filed on August 6 accusing major advertisers of joining a boycott of the platform, apparently because they disapprove of its content.
The filing was announced in a video tweet by Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X. Yaccarino’s hostage effect and theatrical hand gestures in the video are so strange that some viewers have speculated, also on X, that the video is an AI-generated deepfake. And why not? Musk himself promoted on X a deepfake fabricating an alleged Kamala Harris speech with the words, “It’s incredible.”
The complaint targets the World Federation of Advertisers, a networking organization for major advertisers. It specifically names the WFA and four companies: Danish energy company Ørsted, CVS Health, and consumer companies Unilever and Mars. It’s not entirely clear why it’s targeting these companies, but it’s notable that they are members or hold leadership positions in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.
GARM, as the complaint alleges, was founded to establish brand safety standards for advertisers on X and other social media platforms. In other words, standards to help advertisers prevent their messages from appearing alongside posts and accounts that promote hate speech and other harmful messages.
Yaccarino’s complaint and video allege that advertisers colluded through GARM to boycott X, depriving the company of its lifeblood: ad revenue. “This puts your global public square, the only place where you can express yourself freely and openly, at risk in the long term,” Yaccarino said.
Learn more: Column: Elon Musk Thinks Tesla Investors Love Him. He’s Wrong
Leaving aside that rather bloated and anachronistic description of X — its status as a “global public square” didn’t survive Musk’s acquisition of the platform in 2022 — the idea that you can sue companies for deciding not to advertise with you is beyond absurd.
A few points about all this:
First, the trial is based on a report published last month by the Republican staff of the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by that swashbuckling swashbuckler, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. Just another useless, conspiracy-filled report from the House GOP caucus. See, for example…
