Elon Musk has refused to address anti-Semitism on X when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the subject during their live-streamed discussion on Monday.
The duo spoke for nearly an hour about the Twitter czar’s plans to establish a paywall on the platform, Netanyahu’s controversial proposals to reform Israel’s justice system, and artificial intelligence.
Their meeting in California’s Silicon Valley came amid escalating tensions between Musk and the Anti-Defamation League, which has accused him of being anti-Semitic, and mass protests in Israel over judicial reforms.
However, Musk deviated from the topic of anti-Semitism, saying he is “clearly against it,” and instead spoke more generally about “hate speech.”
Netanyahu previously came to Musk’s defense when he was accused of repeat offense discriminatory statements about Jewish financier George Soros, and he introduced the topic by reiterating his belief that the Tesla boss does not hold anti-Jewish views.
Elon Musk has refused to tackle anti-Semitism on X when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the subject during their live-streamed discussion
A huge crowd of protesters gathered in San Francisco’s Union Square, near where Musk and Netanyahu met on Monday, to demonstrate their opposition to his reforms — and to Musk giving him a platform
“I know your opposition to anti-Semitism,” the 73-year-old Israeli leader told Musk during their X conversation.
“All I can say is that I hope that within the bounds of the First Amendment you can find the ability to not only stop or, as best you can, reverse anti-Semitism, but also any collective hatred of a people who practice anti-Semitism.” represents.’
“Obviously I’m against anti-Semitism,” Musk responded. “I’m actually against anything that promotes hatred and conflict, and I’m in favor of whatever helps society and moves us toward a better future for humanity as a whole.”
But the SpaceX boss has not elaborated or defended his controversial statements about Soros, including the comparison to X-Men supervillain Magneto – a character who manipulates the world and believes mutants should be in charge instead of humans.
Regarding hate speech in general on
‘On any given day, around 100 to 200 million messages are posted on the system. This is a lot of material. Some of them will be bad.
“You can’t check it in advance, but you can say afterwards, ‘Oh, it’s being reported as hate speech.’
“We’re not going to promote the speech because that’s probably not what people want to hear.”
Netanyahu (pictured) has previously defended Musk after he was accused of repeating discriminatory statements about Jewish financier George Soros, despite a protest in Israel
The SpaceX founder’s anti-Semitist woes started when he compared Soros, 92, to X-Men supervillain Magneto – a character who manipulates the world and believes mutants should be in charge instead of humans
He also revealed that he plans to charge X users, claiming it is the only way to protect against bot accounts dominating the platform.
“I would say the single most important reason we’re moving toward a small monthly payment for using the X System is because it’s the only way I can think of to combat massive armies of bots,” Musk said.
“A bot costs a fraction of a cent, but if someone has to pay a few dollars or something… you have to get a new payment method every time you have a new bot.
“By prioritizing posts written by We want it to be a small amount.
‘It’s a longer discussion, but in my opinion this is the only defense against huge armies of bots. As the AI gets really good, it will become better and better at passing the captcha tests than humans.”
Netanyahu is also embroiled in his own domestic controversy over his attempt to radically overhaul the country’s legal system, which opponents say will push the country toward authoritarian rule.
The Israeli prime minister wants to limit the authority of the Supreme Court and give politicians more power over the selection of judges.
A huge crowd of protesters gathered in San Francisco’s Union Square, close to where Musk and Netanyahu met on Monday, to demonstrate their opposition to his reforms — and to Musk giving him a platform.
Netanyahu is also embroiled in his own domestic controversy over his move to radically revamp the country’s legal system, which opponents say will push the country toward authoritarian rule.
Musk asked Netanyahu about his reforms during their SF (photo)
Thousands of protesters poured into the streets of Tel Aviv in June to oppose Netanyahu and the judicial overhaul of his nationalist coalition government
Musk asked Netanyahu about his reforms during their
Netanyahu dismissed activists who opposed his reforms, claiming that “many of them do not know what they are protesting against” and adding that “there is a concerted effort to make sure they don’t know’.
“The way you govern and the way you balance democracy, majority rule and individual rights is a balance between the three branches of government,” he said.
‘In Israel, that balance started to change thirty years ago. And we have the most activist court in the world… so it has steadily usurped the powers of the executive and the legislature where it actually decides.
‘Democracy is supposed to be the checks and balances between the three branches of each other.
“In Israel, the judiciary has no checks and balances, it only has power, and so there is a demand to try to realign the judiciary, and that has been simmering all along.”