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‘Don’t Advertise…. Go F*ck Yourself:’ Elon Musk Lashes Out at Companies ‘Blackmailing’ X/Twitter

November 29, 2023 by Lucas Nolan Leave a Comment

Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world and owner of X/Twitter, has lashed out at advertisers who withdrew their spending from his social network. Musk claims that companies are trying to “blackmail” him with money, telling former advertisers “go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.”

Variety reports that Elon Musk’s recent outburst at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit has once again made headlines as the Tesla CEO and X/Twitter owner attacked advertisers for pulling their ads from his social media network. Following Musk’s alleged endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory on X/Twitter, several major advertisers, including Disney, IBM, Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony, Comcast, NBCUniversal, and Lionsgate, suspended their ad spending.

.@elonmusk to corporations pulling ads from X:
“Don’t advertise. If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.” pic.twitter.com/GuhIHWjei9
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 29, 2023

Discussing his reply to the post, Musk stated: “I should have not replied to that particular person… I essentially handed a loaded gun to those who hate me,” adding that the reply was one of the “most foolish” posts he has ever made on the platform. In an attempt to explain his reply, Musk said: “What I was saying was that it’s unwise to support groups that want your annihilation,” adding that he was far from antisemitic: “If anything, I am Philo-Semitic.”

At the summit, he addressed advertisers that have cut off their relationship with X/Twitter, stating: “Go fuck yourself… Go. Fuck. Yourself. Is that clear?” He also accused these advertisers of trying to “blackmail” the company and potentially driving it into bankruptcy.

The situation is further complicated by a lawsuit filed by X/Twitter against Media Matters, alleging a “blatant smear campaign” against Musk and X using manipulated research. The lawsuit, along with perceived damage control moves like visiting Israel have not moved the needle with major advertisers who have paused their spending on the platform.

Earlier at the DealBrook Summit, Disney CEO Bob Iger commented on the company’s decision to pull ads from the platform, stating: “I have a lot of respect for Elon and what he has accomplished.” However, given “the position [Musk] took, in quite a public manner,” Disney decided that its relationship with X/Twitter was “not necessarily a positive one for us.”

Special Counsel Jack Smith Demands X/Twitter Give Info on All Americans Who Interacted with Donald Trump

November 29, 2023 by Allum Bokhari Leave a Comment

Special Counsel Jack Smith, in a search warrant sent to X, formerly Twitter, requested a vast swathe of information about the account of former President Donald J. Trump, as well as information on the millions of accounts that interacted with it — even those that liked a tweet by Trump in the timeframe of October 2020 to January 2021.

The heavily redacted search warrant requests a list of all users who liked or retweeted posts from Trump between October 2020 and January 2021, including “all associated logs and metadata,” which could cover location data. This extraordinarily expansive request would result in data on millions of American users being turned over to the DOJ.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 11: Former U.S. President Donald Trump is seen during the UFC 295 event at Madison Square Garden on November 11, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on his latest indictment against former U.S. President Donald Trump on August 1, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

X/Twitter initially delayed complying with the request, per the New York Post, resulting in a $350,000 fine levied against the company.

The warrant also requests all IP addresses associated with Trump’s account, and a list of all devices used to log in to it. This means that any staffer or aide who logged into the account would have the information divulged to the special prosecutor.

All information on Trump’s “connect” and “notification” tabs was requested, as well as all search history, blocks, mutes, and even drafted tweets.

The warrant instructed X/Twitter not to notify Trump of the search order. The company attempted to overcome this in court, but failed.

SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends an event during the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, on June 16, 2023. (JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images)

In counter-arguments that overcame X/Twitter’s objection, Smith argued “there is reason to believe notification to the former president, a sophisticated actor with an expansive platform, would result in a statutorily cognizable harm.”

“The [Non Disclosure Order] was granted based on facts showing that notifying the former president would result in destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, or other serious jeopardy to an investigation or delaying of trial.”

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.

Washington Post Latest Company to Halts Ads on X/Twitter amid Elon Musk Controversies

November 29, 2023 by Lucas Nolan Leave a Comment

The Washington Post has joined the growing list of companies halting advertising on X/Twitter, a decision influenced by recent controversies surrounding Elon Musk.

Mediaite reports that following allegations of “hate speech” and antisemitism across the platform, the Washington Post has become the latest advertisers to pull its ads from X (formerly known as Twitter.) This decision comes in the wake of a series of controversies linked to Elon Musk, the owner of the platform. The Washingtonian’s Andrew Beaujon first reported this development on Tuesday, highlighting the growing concerns among major advertisers about the direction of the platform under Musk’s leadership.

Elon Musk and Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel (Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO))

The pause in advertising is a reaction to Musk’s recent actions and posts, which have included sharing a meme that endorses the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, a move that has been widely criticized. The controversy escalated when Musk deleted the tweet, but the damage was already done, with major advertisers rethinking their association with the platform, a continuation of an ongoing trend.

Notably, the continued loss of advertisers indicated that Musk’s attempts at damage control, which include suing Media Matters and visiting Israel, have not yet proven effective.

The Post‘s decision was confirmed by a spokesperson, who noted that the suspension of ads would take effect this week. The exact financial impact of this decision on X/Twitter is unclear, as the spokesperson did not disclose the amount spent on advertising on the platform. This move follows a trend of other major companies and media houses reevaluating their presence on Musk’s platform, driven by concerns over brand safety and the platform’s content moderation policies. Along with the advertising halt, some companies are no longer posting on their X/Twitter accounts at all. Companies including Disney, Paramount, and other entertainment giants have gone dark on the platform.

While many users would argue that losing woke Disney is a benefit to the average American, social media companies live or die by their engagement and active user numbers, so the loss of large accounts with massive followings will hurt X/Twitter’s metrics, which in turn make the platform less enticing to remaining advertisers.

Dr. Robert Epstein Launches ‘America’s Digital Shield’ Exposing Big Tech Meddling in 2024 Elections

November 27, 2023 by Alana Mastrangelo Leave a Comment

Research psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein is launching America’s Digital Shield, a website that exposes Big Tech meddling in the 2024 elections through real-time “ephemeral manipulation” that can shift millions of votes.

Epstein announced the release of a “public data dashboard” that shows how Big Tech giants like Google, Bing, and Yahoo are manipulating online content to influence votes in the elections, according to a press release sent to Breitbart News.

The new public dashboard, named America’s Digital Shield can be viewed here.

The findings presented by Epstein, a Harvard-trained senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology (AIBRT), raise concerns about the integrity of the democratic process amid Big Tech corporations’ ability to wield unparalleled amounts of power with regards to public consumption of online content.

“If we don’t stop them, Google alone will be able to shift between 6.4 and 25.5 million votes in the 2024 Presidential election,” Epstein said.

The findings are based on “a sophisticated proprietary monitoring system his research team has been developing since 2016” that tracks “ephemeral experiences,” which are “short-lived online content that can alter perceptions and behaviors before disappearing without a trace,” the press release explained.

This content includes search results, news feeds, video recommendations, and other temporary online content that normally disappears forever, but that is now being preserved, archived, and analyzed by the “Digital Shield” that Epstein and his team have developed.

Notably, these manipulations are powerful enough to shift voting preferences of undecided voters by up to 80 percent after just one exposure, with the potential to shift millions of votes in aggregate, Epstein said.

“This system is how — for the first time ever — we have finally made the Big Tech companies accountable to the public,” Epstein said. “We know from a smaller system we set up in 2020 that when these companies know they’re being monitored, they back down.”

“Permanent, large-scale monitoring systems are the only way to stop Big Tech companies from manipulating our elections, undermining our democracy, and indoctrinating our children,” the research psychologist added. “Laws and regulations — if they’re ever enacted at all — will never stop them. Only monitoring makes their activities transparent 24 hours a day. Only monitoring can stop them.”

Epstein has long been warning about the power Big Tech has to meddle in elections.

In 2019, he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he told senators that Google election meddling gave Hillary Clinton at least 2.6 million additional votes in the 2016 election.

Epstein also warned that Google has been manipulating voters “on a massive scale,” using tools that it has at its disposal exclusively, and that “no one can counteract them.” He also said that Big Tech is more powerful than anything he has seen in 40 years of behavioral sciences.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

Elon Musk Meets with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Visits Site of Hamas Terror Attack

November 27, 2023 by Lucas Nolan Leave a Comment

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of X/Twitter, traveled to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then traveled with Netanyahu to visit Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a southern town in Israel, one of the major targets of the Hamas terror attacks on October 7.

Bloomberg reports that Tesla CEO, SpaceX CEO, and owner of X/Twitter Elon Musk accompanied Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a tour of Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Monday morning.
A video of the visit was published by the Israeli government on YouTube:

The visit’s timing is critical, as it coincides with increasing scrutiny over antisemitic content on Musk’s social media platform. The furor escalated after Musk allegedly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory earlier in the month on X/Twitter, leading to widespread condemnation. This controversy has prompted major brands to pause advertising on the platform, indicating a significant reputational impact.

During the tour, Musk and Netanyahu were briefed by local and military officials about the massacre. They also met with the families of victims, including relatives of a 4-year-old girl freed by Hamas just a day before the visit.

Elon Musk tours site of Hamas terror attack

Musk’s itinerary includes meetings with war cabinet minister Benny Gantz and discussions with President Isaac Herzog and representatives for families of hostages held in Gaza. Musk’s visit also encompasses interactions with Israel’s technology sector, reflecting his professional interests. He is scheduled to meet executives and discuss topics like artificial intelligence on SpaceX’s live audio streaming service.

Additionally, ongoing talks with the Israeli government about Starlink, Musk’s satellite-based internet service, indicate potential collaborations in technology and communication as military conflict continues in the region.

Israel’s government press office (GPO) issued the following statement about Musk’s visit:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Elon Musk, this morning (Monday, 27 November 2023), toured Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The Prime Minister showed him the horrors of the massacre at the kibbutz on Saturday October 7th. Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council Acting Chairman Yossi Keren and IDF Spokesperson representative Liad Diamond briefed Musk on the massacre at the kibbutz.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and Elon Musk went to the Leibstein family residence where the latter heard about the heroism of the late Ofir Leibstein, the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council Chairman who was murdered on the morning of October 7th in exchanges of fire with terrorists who had entered the kibbutz.
The Prime Minister and Musk proceeded to the Itamari family residence where Musk heard about Avigail Idan (4), whose parents were murdered and she was abducted to Gaza and released yesterday from Hamas captivity. At the family home, an IDF Spokesperson representative showed photographs that were taken a few days after the massacre.
At the conclusion of the visit, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Elon Musk went to the young people’s neighborhood on the kibbutz, which suffered most of the horrors on October 7th.

Breitbart News will continue to report on Elon Musk.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.