On Thursday (16th November), leftist media watchdog ‘Media Matters for America’ published a controversial article, claiming that X (formerly Twitter) was placing advertisements of large companies next to anti-Semitic posts.
In the article, it claimed, “As X owner Elon Musk continues his descent into white nationalist and antisemitic conspiracy theories, his social media platform has been placing ads for major brands like Apple, Bravo (NBCUniversal), IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity (Comcast) next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.“
‘Media Matters for America’, which has a history of hounding non-left news organisations such as Fox Corporation, also alleged that X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk supposedly reinstated the accounts of ‘bigots’, ‘pro-Hitler’, ‘paid far-right extremists’, and ‘Holocaust deniers.
The leftist organisation claimed, “During all of this Musk-induced chaos, corporate advertisements have also been appearing on pro-Hitler, Holocaust denial, white nationalist, pro-violence, and neo-Nazi accounts.“
It further alleged that advertisements for companies such as IBM, Apple, Oracle, Bravo, and Xfinity appeared next to ‘pro-Hitler’ and ‘pro-Nazi’ tweets on X (formerly Twitter).
The impact of ‘Media Matters for America’ report
Following the hitjob by ‘Media Matters for America’ on the micro-blogging platform, tech company IBM announced that it has pulled out advertisements from the Elon Musk-owned X.
“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation,” it said in a statement.
Citing sources, Axios reported that Apple too is pausing all its advertisements on X. Besides, a spokesperson for ‘Lions Gate Entertainment’ confirmed to Axios about their decision to halt all advertisements on the micro-blogging platform.
Can confirm Paramount Global is suspending too. It’s a deluge.
— Alex Sherman (@sherman4949) November 18, 2023
Apple, Disney, Warner, Paramount Global and Lionsgate pause advertising on X
Story here: https://t.co/DfNy6gYiLv
Several other companies such as Sony, Disney, Comcast, Warner Bros, and Paramount Global have pulled out advertisements from X in the aftermath of the controversial report by ‘Media Matters for America.’
Elon Musk fires back, vows legal action against leftist watchdog
In a tweet on Saturday (18th November), Elon Musk warned, “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…Their board, their donors, their network of dark money, all of them.”
Their board, their donors, their network of dark money, all of them …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2023
X (formerly Twitter) CEO Linda Yaccarino made it clear, “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,” she added.
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…
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) November 16, 2023
X exposes manipulation tactics of ‘Media Matters for America’
X (formerly Twitter) published a statement on Saturday (18th November), exposing the antics of ‘Media Matters for America’ that were designed to portray the micro-blogging platform as ‘anti-Semitic.’
While accusing the leftist media watchdog of deception, it said, “X has seen a number of attacks from activist groups like Media Matters and legacy media outlets who seek to undermine freedom of expression on our platform because they perceive it as a threat to their ideological narrative and those of their financial supporters.”
“These groups try to use their influence to attack our revenue streams by deceiving advertisers on X,” it further added. X(formerly Twitter) informed that ‘Media Matters for America’ created an alternate account for its hitjob on the platform.
The vile, disgusting, dishonest Media Matters is trying to take down X & @elonmusk. They cannot STAND the existence of even one platform that the hard left does not control. It’s important that X survive. Don’t fall for the MM hit job. https://t.co/6wxquwEcJj
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) November 18, 2023
According to X, the leftist outlet refreshed their timelines multiple times to find an advertisement that suited their sinister agenda. It stated –
“To manipulate the public and advertisers, Media Matters created an alternate account and curated the posts and advertising appearing on the account’s timeline to misinform advertisers about the placement of their posts. These contrived experiences could be applied to any platform. Once they curated their feed, they repeatedly refreshed their timelines to find a rare instance of ads serving next to the content they chose to follow. Our logs indicate that they forced a scenario resulting in 13 times the number of ads served compared to the median ads served to an X user.
Of the 5.5 billion ad impressions on X that day, less than 50 total ad impressions were served against all of the organic content featured in the Media Matters article. For one brand showcased in the article, one of its ads ran adjacent to a post 2 times and that ad was seen in that setting by only two users, one of which was the author of the Media Matters article. For another brand showcased in the article, two of its ads served adjacent to 2 posts, 3 times, and that ad was only seen in that setting by one user, the author of the Media Matters article,”
President of leftist watchdog turns out to be ‘racist’
While ‘Media Matters for America’ is busy portraying Elon Musk and his company X in a poor light, its incumbent President Angelo Carusone has earlier been called out for his racism and brazen xenophobia.
In March 2019, Washington-based news website ‘The Daily Caller‘ exposed the dehumanising language that Angelo Carusone used for Bangladeshis, Jews and members of the transgender community.
While reacting to a case of robbery involving a Bangladeshi victim in November 2005, the President of ‘Media Matters for America’ wrote, “Look man, we don’t need to know whether or not they were attractive. The fucking guy was Bangladeshi. And while we’re out, what the hell was he doing with $7,300 worth of stuff. The guy’s Bangladeshi!”
Tucker Carlson on Media Matters Head Angelo Carusone (2019):
— Wojciech Pawelczyk (@WojPawelczyk) November 19, 2023
"Almost every day, he issues outraged press releases accusing other people of bigotry. And yet Carusone is himself an enthusiastic bigot. We know this because he's written about it extensively."@elonmusk pic.twitter.com/ldeV0EZMMy
Angelo Carusone also downplayed the sexual abuse of female players by a male basketball coach in Japan. “Lighten up Japs,” he had commented. He also hailed a white supremacist’ and the former grandmaster of Klu Klux Klan in a blog post in 2005.
The President of ‘Media Matters for America’ also made anti-Semitic remarks towards his boyfriend, including ‘several bags of Jewish gold’, ‘Jewry’ among others. He was also seen referring to members of the transgender community as ‘trannies.’
In March 2019, conservative radio host Tucker Carlson lashed out at Angelo Carusone for his smear campaign against Fox News. “Carusone is himself an enthusiastic bigot. We know this for sure because he has written about it extensively. It turns out for years Carusone maintained a racist blog,” he said.
After being exposed on social media, the President of ‘Media Matters for America’ put out a token apology.
