Jerusalem (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with billionaire businessman Elon Musk during his upcoming trip to the United States, according to an announcement from the Prime Minister’s office on Thursday.
Discussing Artificial Intelligence
The meeting, scheduled for Monday, will focus on discussions about artificial intelligence. This comes as Musk faces accusations of tolerating antisemitic messages on his social-media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).
Anti-Defamation League’s Claims
The Anti-Defamation League, a well-known Jewish civil-rights organization, has accused Musk of allowing antisemitism and hate speech to spread on X. Its director, Jonathan Greenblatt, claims that Musk has “amplified” the messages of neo-Nazis and white supremacists who aim to ban the league.
Musk Responds
Musk responded to these allegations in a September 4 post, stating that the league was attempting to sabotage the platform by falsely accusing him of being anti-Semitic. He also blamed the league for a significant drop in revenue at X and threatened to file a defamation lawsuit against them.
Ultimately, Musk has yet to act on this threat. However, X has filed a lawsuit against another group that has researched the spread of hate speech on the platform.
Musk’s Company X and the Lawsuit Against the Center for Countering Digital Hate
In August, Company X took legal action against the nonprofit organization Center for Countering Digital Hate. Company X accused the organization of violating its terms of service by unlawfully collecting a substantial amount of data for analysis purposes. The lawsuit alleges that the group’s research, which revealed an increase in hate speech on the platform since Musk’s involvement, resulted in significant losses in advertising revenue for Company X.
Analysts closely monitoring Twitter have argued that Musk’s numerous and often chaotic changes to the platform, such as abandoning its well-known brand name, have contributed to a decline in interest from advertisers.
Both Musk and Linda Yaccarino, the company’s CEO, have expressed their opposition to antisemitism. Greenblatt, a representative from the nonprofit group involved in the lawsuit, stated that they are open to collaborating with Company X. In fact, they recently had a meeting with Yaccarino to discuss potential cooperation.
Netanyahu’s U.S. Visit and His Engagements with Tech Leaders
During his visit to the United States, Prime Minister Netanyahu plans to meet with various tech leaders in San Francisco to discuss artificial intelligence. However, his office has not disclosed the names of these executives.
Following his time in San Francisco, Netanyahu will travel to New York. There, he is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly and hold meetings with President Joe Biden and several other world leaders. Some of the notable figures he is set to meet include German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
