Elon Musk has threatened to hit the Anti-Defamation League with a defamation lawsuit over its allegations of anti-semitism at X (formerly Twitter Inc).

Through a series of tweets, Musk argued the US-based group, which focuses on tackling defamation of the Jewish population, has been trying to “kill” X since he took over last year.

“Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by [the group] so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter,” he wrote.

Musk has faced scrutiny over his decision to relax content moderation and promote free speech on X since purchasing the site for US$44 billion last October.

“To be super clear, I’m pro-free speech, but against anti-semitism of any kind,” he reassured in another tweet on Monday.

However, advertisers have left in their hordes over fears of the wound-back rules, with the Anti-Defamation League among several groups to have lobbied firms to quit promoting on the site in response.

Musk hinted the group could be “on the hook” for prompting X’s value to be slashed in half as a result.

Read the article by Josh Lamb on ProActive.