Elon Musk tried to woo advertisers again to the social media large X on Wednesday, strolling again his problem final yr that some corporations ought to “go fuck” themselves for pausing their advert buys on the time.
Musk spoke on the annual Cannes Lions promoting pageant in France on Wednesday, saying his feedback final November have been meant to guard free speech on the platform, previously often called Twitter.
“First of all, it wasn’t to advertisers as a whole. It was with respect to freedom of speech,” Musk advised the gang. “It is important to have a global free speech platform where people with a wide range of opinions can voice their views. In some cases there were advertisers who were insisting on censorship.”
“We’re going to support free speech rather than agree to be censored for money,” he went on.
Marc Piasecki by way of Getty Photographs
The billionaire made the offending remarks on the New York Occasions’ DealBook Summit final yr. Firms have been pulling their adverts after Musk appeared to endorse an antisemitic publish on X amid the battle between Israel and Hamas. The positioning was additionally reeling after studies some adverts for main corporations appeared subsequent to pro-Nazi and white nationalist content material.
Musk rejected any claims that he was antisemitic and has lengthy defended X as a bastion of free speech.
“If somebody’s going to try and blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself,” Musk stated in the course of the summit final yr. “Go. Fuck. Yourself.”
On Wednesday, Musk went on to say advertisers had a “right” to seem subsequent to content material they “find compatible with their brands.”
“What is not cool is insisting that there can be no content they disagree with on the platform,” he stated.
“In order for X to be the public square for the world, it really better be a free speech platform,” he went on. “Now, that doesn’t mean people can say illegal things. It’s free speech within the bounds of the law.”
