Australian Atheists Forum

Elon Musk made his most brazen overture to white nationalists yet on Monday, tweeting about the “white genocide” conspiracy theory in South Africa.

In response to a video of South Africa’s ​​Economic Freedom Fighters party posted by right-wing influencer and serial plagiarist Benny Johnson, Musk tweeted, “They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa.” The video shows members of the party singing a “struggle song” that features the lyrics “shoot to kill, kill the Boer, kill the farmer.” A court ruled last August that the song was not hate speech, and that the lyrics were not meant to be taken literally.

Almost immediately, white nationalists praised Musk for taking up their cause:

“Elon Musk bringing attention to White Genocide,” white nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes wrote on Telegram, accompanied by an emoji of an excited Pepe.

The CCDH exists to research online hate and disinformation, and hold social media companies accountable for the erosion of human rights and civil liberties. Our mission is to stem the tide of racism, antisemitism, harms to children, climate denial, anti-LGBTQ+ hate, health misinformation and many other dangers to society.

Last week, we became the target of an aggressive and cynical intimidation campaign by Musk, the world’s richest person and owner of X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Musk is singling us out because our research has exposed his failings – the suit is designed to silence critics of X Corp/Twitter. But attacking CCDH will not remove the neo-Nazis, white supremacists and disinformation superspreaders he has allowed back. Only Musk can undo his own errors.