Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, said he was considering a billion-dollar deal from the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish nonprofit that advocates for civil rights and fights anti-Semitism. blaming the organization to be the “biggest generator of anti-Semitism” on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Since the acquisition, @ADL has tried to destroy this platform by falsely accusing it and me of being anti-Semitic,” Musk said. wrote on Monday.

“Our US ad revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to @ADL pressure on advertisers (so the advertisers tell us), so they almost killed X/Twitter! Musk continuedagainst adding: “If this continues, we will have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League.”

Musk claimed ADL destroyed “half X’s worth” or “roughly $22 billion”. adding later “I don’t see any scenario where they are responsible for less than 10% of the value destruction, so ~4 billion.”

“To be very clear, I’m for free speech, but I’m against anti-Semitism of any kind,” Musk said wrote in a separate post.

He posted dozens of times on the platform about the ADL on Monday and did so on Tuesday.

In response to Musk deleting thousands of accounts and relaxing X’s rules on hate speech and bigotry, the ADL joined a coalition with the NAACP and other civil rights groups that called for a boycott of advertisers last year. But since then, the ADL has actually started promoting itself by reporting to a Jewish news outlet Go ahead in August that they need to be able to reach people in an environment where extremists and anti-Semites operate freely.

Musk too said Monday that the lawsuit could take until next week because his company is understaffed. And he openly considered making public all of ADL’s dealings with X before and after he took control.

When X was sent an email emailed for comment, he responded with an automated reply: “We’ll get back to you shortly.” Musk reported cut the communications department after taking over the company; it is unclear whether a new chapter has since been established.

The ADL said it does not comment on legal threats, but a spokesperson condemned the social media campaign against their organization.

“The ADL is not surprised, but not surprised, that anti-Semites, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and other trolls have launched a coordinated attack on our organization. This type of thing is not new,” the representative wrote in an email. “Such insidious efforts do not scare us. Instead, they encourage us to relentlessly fight hatred in all its forms and ensure the safety of Jewish communities and other marginalized groups.

The spokesman noted that the attacks came a week after he attended the 60th March on Washington, a civil rights march where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. They also wrote that they believe the “hate groups” targeting them were angered by the ADL’s meeting with leadership last week X. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt had convened a meeting with X CEO Linda Yaccarino “sincere” and “productive,” saying she reached out to him.

Last week, the #BantheADL and Musk campaign went viral on the platform gets busy quickly with discourse, liked a post by a far-right Irish activist known as Keith Woods calling for a Friday ban. See you Monday, Musk wrote “Despite the massive damage the ADL has done,” they will only be banned from X if they break the law.

Several far-right figures praised Musk’s discourse. Nick Fuentes – white supremacist — who had dinner with former President Donald Trump last year — said in a live broadcast that Musk’s decision to sue the ADL “would probably be a lot better” than simply banning the group, adding that “it could destroy the ADL as we know it. A really big deal.”

Prominent figures such as Trump’s former senior adviser Stephen Miller have also joined the fray. Miller, who is Jewish, described by ADL as “a disreputable organization that has seriously harmed Jewish interests and deserves the strongest condemnation” and falsely accuses it of being an “organization of ultra-left activists”.

The Center to Fight Digital Hate has published several studies that found hate speech has increased since Elon Musk bought the platform last year. In July, Musk’s X Corp., the parent company of the social media platform, sued a hate speech advocacy organization for $10 million.

“Musk can’t have it both ways. He can’t stand free speech and silencing critics,” the center posted on X. “He’s happy to let neo-Nazis back on Twitter, but gets mad if anyone does research that proves the toxicity of his platform. .