Full List of Companies Pulling Out of X After Elon Musk Post

Several major companies have pulled their advertising from X, formerly Twitter, after its owner Elon Musk promoted a post that accused Jewish people of pushing hatred before he took aim at antisemitism watchdog the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

On Wednesday, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO replied to a post that read: "Jewish communties [sic] have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them." Musk wrote this was "the actual truth."

Widely regarded as the richest man in the world, the tech entrepreneur, 52, who took over X last year before rebranding it, has previously courted controversy for outspoken messages on the platform. Musk has also faced criticism over allowing hate speech to flourish on X.

After Musk promoted the "hatred against whites" post, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt responded: "At a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one's influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories."

Entertainment company Paramount Global is "suspending all ad spend on X," a spokesperson told Newsweek on Saturday. A spokesperson for production company Lionsgate told Newsweek on Sunday it had suspended its advertising on the platform "because of Elon Musk's recent antisemitic tweets."

In the ensuing backlash against him, Musk wrote in a further post: "The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel. This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat." Musk has yet to clarify which "minority groups" he was referring to. Newsweek approached X via email for comment on Saturday.

The ADL has had previous run-ins with the X chief executive; in September, Musk said the watchdog had tried very hard to strangle the platform, blaming it for "most of our revenue loss." He has previously said that he is against antisemitism of any kind.

Since Musk's endorsement of the anti-Jewish post, the White House has described his actions as unacceptable and an "abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate." At the same time, several large companies have withdrawn their advertising.

It follows a report by Media Matters, a progressive watchdog, which found ads were being placed alongside antisemitic conspiracy theories and far-right hate speech on X. A spokesperson for X told the BBC that it did not intentionally place ads "next to this kind of content" and that the platform was dedicated to combatting anti-Jewish hate speech.

Axios said on Friday that Apple would be pulling its advertising from the social-media platform. Newsweek approached Apple via email for comment on Saturday.

The New York Times said Disney had withdrawn its advertisement from X. CNBC added its parent company, Comcast, which also owns NBC Universal, and entertainment firm Warner Bros. were no longer advertising on the platform. Newsweek approached Disney and Warner Bros. via email for comment on Saturday.

On Thursday, technology corporation IBM confirmed to the U.K. newspaper Financial Times that it had done the same. In a statement, it told the newspaper it "has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation."

In the early hours of Saturday morning, Musk launched a rebuke of the Media Matters report, adding that X would be "filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company."

"X has been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination," Linda Yaccarino, X's CEO, wrote on Friday. "There's absolutely no place for it anywhere in the world."

On X, Greenblatt has since welcomed an announcement by Musk that mentions of "decolonization" and "from the river to the sea," a controversial slogan commonly voiced at pro-Palestinian rallies, would result in suspension as they were against X's policies and "necessarily imply genocide."

"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" is contentious because some believe it implies support for the dismantling of the Israeli state, though others have defended its use.

Update 11/20/23, 3:00 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comment from a Lionsgate spokesperson.