Twitter owner Elon Musk still seems to be going out of his way to be vile, but there’s not much way to top “vile” once you’ve boosted the antisemitic blood libel conspiracy theory popularized by Nazi Germany.
That’s Musk adding his approving voice to the casual on-site mention of “adrenochrome” and “hat[ing] the Js.” The “adrenochrome” conspiracy theory is a QAnon-popularized claim that insists there is a secret cabal of world elites who kidnap children in order to extract “adrenochromes” from their blood, also known as the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory. But that conspiracy is only the thinnest rewrite of the most infamous antisemitic conspiracy theory in history, the claim that world Jews ritually harvest and drink the blood of Christian children.
“Blood libel” is now almost exclusively promoted by neo-Nazi groups and QAnon-style groups that attempt to repackage the antisemitic hoaxes into something not so immediately associated with swastikas, and there is no question at all as to what was meant in tweet Elon boosted with nearly a half a million views.
If you’re wondering how it is that the alleged richest person in the world managed to stumble across an antisemitic meme booster in the first place, you needn’t bother. Musk has made brazenly antisemitic statements himself, as when he recently claimed Jewish Holocaust survivor George Soros “wants to erode the very fabric of civilization” and “hates humanity.”
On gaining control of Twitter, Musk ordered the restoration of Twitter accounts previously banned for antisemitic hate speech and Holocaust denialism, including accounts of hate group leaders themselves.
Musk is the single reason antisemitic content is now flooding Twitter, and Musk himself continues to use his own custom-built algorithmic treatment to hobnob with the neo-Nazi and antisemitic right, boosting their own accounts.
That circle is self-jerking; as anyone who once used Twitter knows, boosting and otherwise interacting with accounts that focus on particular topics results in “the algorithm” promoting similarly premised accounts to you. Musk is so deeply wired into the antisemitic far-right, by his own choice that the “algorithm” knows exactly what he wants to see. It’s far-right politicians and neo-Nazi conspiracy theories from here to the horizon, when Elon logs on.
Musk has been promoting other neo-Nazi and extremist beliefs as well. The top Twitter executive responsible for safety and content moderation resigned last week, shortly after Musk overruled company moderators to boost an anti-trans “documentary” produced and promoted by a far-right group. There’s simply no question that Musk is seeking to turn Twitter into a site that boosts fascist propaganda and targets fascism’s enemies, and the richest man in the world seems bent on doing it one small shitpost at a time.
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