Elon Musk pushes anti-gay #Pizzagate conspiracy theory as advertisers flee X

Advertisers have been fleeing X, the social media platform owned by transphobic billionaire Elon Musk that was formerly known as Twitter, in response to his post supporting an antisemitic conspiracy theory. But instead of avoiding any public endorsements of other conspiracy theories, Musk recently re-tweeted a meme pushing the anti-gay #Pizzagate conspiracy theory.

Concurrently, Musk has also gotten a far-right judge to hear his case against the anti-fascist watchdog organization Media Matters, possibly guaranteeing a ruling in his favor, even if the ruling violates constitutional free-speech protections.

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In mid-November, Musk made a post on X agreeing with someone who said that Jews are stoking anti-white hatred, a long-held antisemitic theory that also has racist overtones. Concurrently, the watchdog organization Media Matters published a report showing that large corporations’ advertisements were appearing on X next to pro-Nazi content.

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In response, IBM, Apple, Disney, Coca-Cola, Sony, Warner Bros, and others have stopped advertising on the site. As a result, X could lose up to $75 million in ad revenue by the end of 2023, The New York Times reported.

Musk never apologized for endorsing the antisemitic trope, nor did he delete it. Instead, he called reports of his antisemitism “bogus,” and then he visited Isreal and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a trip that may have been damage control.

Meanwhile, Musk sued Media Matters for defamation over its report, claiming that the watchdog organization deliberately followed Nazi fringe and major advertiser accounts that would cause Nazi content to appear next to big-name ads, giving a false impression of how often such juxtapositions actually occur. X wants Media Matters to delete its report and pay X for lost ad revenue and attorney’s fees.

While the First Amendment provides strong protections for media organizations, the case will be heard by the far-right Judge Reed O’Connor, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush. O’Connor is an anti-LGBTQ+ judge whose past rulings are “poorly reasoned,” give “major policy victories to right-wing litigants,” and have often been overturned by the Supreme Court, Vox noted.

Even if Musk’s legal challenge ultimately loses, it could still cost Media Matters a large amount in legal fees and inspire other right-wingers to attempt similar challenges in an attempt to financially exhaust their critics, the aforementioned publication added.

Despite the fallout over his embrace of conspiracy theories, Musk recently pushed yet another right-wing misinformation by claiming that James Gordon Meek, a former ABC reporter who allegedly debunked the #Pizzagate conspiracy theory, was arrested for child pornography. But Meek never wrote an article debunking the theory, and the images of his alleged article are fake.

#Pizzagate claims that Democrats, Hollywood celebrities, and global elites used the basement of the gay-owned Washington D.C. pizzeria Comet Ping Pong to sexually traffic, abuse, and torture children. This theory later became part of the QAnon conspiracy theory, an anti-LGBTQ+ movement that considers former President Donald Trump its savior.

Musk later deleted his #Pizzagate post after “widespread backlash and mockery.”