Netanyahu urges Musk to combat antisemitism on social media during U.S. visit – National | 24CA News
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kicked off a U.S. journey in California to speak to billionaire businessman Elon Musk about antisemitism on his social media platform X — whereas Musk requested him to deal with his judicial overhaul in Israel. The two additionally mentioned synthetic intelligence in a sparsely-attended livestream occasion Monday.
Netanyahu’s high-profile go to to the San Francisco Bay Area comes at a time when Musk is dealing with accusations of tolerating antisemitic messages on his social media platform, whereas Netanyahu is confronting political opposition at dwelling and overseas. Protesters gathered early Monday outdoors the Fremont, California manufacturing facility the place Tesla makes its vehicles.
The video livestream kicked off shortly earlier than 9:30 a.m. with Netanyahu and the Tesla CEO. Netanyahu’s official X account posted that he’s holding a “one on one conversation” with Musk. The variety of viewers hovered round 700-800 folks.
The two kicked off with a joke about deepfakes and shortly launched right into a dialogue of synthetic intelligence as each a blessing and a curse for humanity.
Netanyahu stated an necessary query about extra superior AI is: “How do you get the international regime to control this thing?”
He stated it begins by getting like-minded states to conform to a code of ethics and code of conduct to foster the advantages and “curb the curses” however stated there’ll nonetheless be a have to “police the planet” towards rogue actors.
The freestyle dialog, which included jokes from each males, quickly turned to free speech and antisemitism, with Netanyahu telling Musk he hopes that inside the confines of the First Amendment he can discover a method to clamp down on antisemitism and different types of hatred on his social media platform.
“I encourage you and urge you to find the balance. It’s a tough one,” Netanyahu stated.
Musk stated that with 100 million to 200 million posts on X in a day, “some of those are gonna be bad.” He then reiterated the platform’s coverage to not promote or amplify hate speech. Under Musk, the previous Twitter modified its guidelines in order that objectionable posts should not often eliminated, however as an alternative their visibility is restricted so folks have to hunt it out in the event that they need to see it. Musk calls this “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach.”
Musk is dealing with accusations of tolerating antisemitic messages on his social media platform. The Anti-Defamation League, a outstanding Jewish civil-rights group, has accused Musk of permitting antisemitism and hate speech to unfold on X. Its director, Jonathan Greenblatt, stated Musk had “amplified” the messages of neo-Nazis and white supremacists who need to ban the league by partaking with them lately on X.
In a Sept. 4 publish, Musk claimed that the league was “trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic.” In different posts, he stated the league was accountable for a 60% drop in income at X. The ADL was amongst a coalition or teams that urged corporations final 12 months to pause their promoting on Twitter after Musk purchased the platform. But analysts who observe Twitter have argued that Musk’s chaotic adjustments to the platform — together with jettisoning its well-known model identify — have led to a decline in curiosity from advertisers.
The group met this month with X’s chief government, Linda Yaccarino. Both Musk and Yaccarino have lately posted messages saying they oppose antisemitism.
On Sunday, although Musk posted that George Soros’ group “appears to want nothing less than the destruction of western civilization.” Soros, 93, has donated billionsofdollars of his private wealth to liberal and anti-authoritarian causes around the globe, making him a well-liked goal amongst many on the best. The Hungarian-American, who’s Jewish, has additionally been the topic of anti-Semitic assaults and conspiracy theories for many years.
Netanyahu’s go to was unusually Musk-centric for a world chief. Silicon Valley itineraries for visiting political dignitaries usually additionally embody main tech corporations corresponding to Apple, Google or Meta.
From California, Netanyahu heads to New York, the place he’s scheduled to deal with the United Nations General Assembly and meet with President Joe Biden and different world leaders, his workplace stated. They embody German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in addition to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Hundreds of hundreds of Israelis have taken half in 9 months of demonstrations towards Netanyahu’s plan to overtake Israel’s judicial system. Those protests have unfold abroad, with teams of Israeli expats staging demonstrations throughout visits by Netanyahu and different members of his Cabinet.
Netanyahu says the judicial overhaul plan is required to curb the powers of unelected judges, whom he and his allies say are liberal and overly interventionist. Critics say his plan is an influence seize that may destroy the nation’s system of checks and balances and push it towards autocratic rule.
Leading figures in Israel’s influential high-tech group have performed a outstanding position within the protests. They say weakening the judiciary will harm the nation’s business local weather and drive away international funding. Israel’s foreign money, the shekel, has plunged in worth this 12 months in an indication of weakening international funding.
Netanyahu performed down his overhaul as a wanted, minor correction to curb what he described as extreme powers of his nation’s judiciary. Critics say the plan, which features a proposal for controlling the appointment of the nation’s judges, would focus energy within the fingers of Netanyahu and his allies. Netanyahu additionally made no point out of his corruption trial. Netanyahu describes himself as a sufferer of a witch hunt and his critics say the overhaul is motivated by his anger on the authorized system.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
