Last week, Elon Musk appeared to endorse anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and posted about his support for white pride on his social platform X, formerly Twitter. Musk’s tweets were later highlighted by a Media issues article which discovered that advertising from major companies had appeared alongside pro-Nazi content. Major advertisers then stopped their advertising spend on the platform. To address the controversy, CEO Linda Yaccarino sent a memo titled “Our Work is Meaningful,” reiterating her commitment to X.
As pressure mounts for the company to distance itself from supporting anti-Semitism, Forbes reported that advertisers are urging Yaccarino to resign as well. Yaccarino, a former president of NBCUniversal with close ties to the advertising industry, had been brought into Musk’s company to reset relationships with the companies that account for the bulk of X’s revenue. Advertisers were already concerned that their paid content appeared alongside anti-Semitic or bigoted posts, but they are especially concerned now, when the platform’s owner appears to be actively stoking conspiracies about the Jewish community.
Addressing X employees in a company-wide email, Yaccarino expressed his enthusiasm for the company’s current direction. In the note, first published by The Hollywood Reporter and obtained by The edge, claimed that advertisers had “temporarily paused investments,” an interesting way of saying that major advertisers like Apple, Disney, and IBM have pulled their businesses from the platform due to Musk’s apparent endorsement of anti-Semitism. He also blamed articles he believed had been “manipulated” for damaging the platform’s reputation. “The data will tell the real story,” he wrote in his memo, possibly in reference to Musk’s post/screenshot indicating that he would sue Media issues.
In response, Media issuesChairman Angelo Carusone said: “Elon Musk has spent the last few days making baseless legal threats, posing bizarre conspiracy theories, and launching vicious personal attacks against his online ‘enemies.’ Even if he doesn’t follow through on his threat to sue, the stock’s volatility reinforces why big brands are right to be reluctant to partner with X.”
Meanwhile, Semafor reports that Yaccarino has recruited his son Matt Madrazo to restart
Read Linda Yaccarino’s full memo below:
