Netanyahu speaks to Elon Musk in California about anti-Semitism on X | Social Media News

Netanyahu’s high-profile visit comes at a time when Musk is accused of tolerating anti-Semitism on X.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins a US trip to California to discuss technology and artificial intelligence with billionaire businessman Elon Musk.

The Israeli leader posted Monday on Musk’s social media platform AI for the good of civilization.

Netanyahu’s high-profile visit to the San Francisco Bay Area comes at a time when Musk is accused of tolerating anti-Semitic posts on his social media platform, while Netanyahu faces political opposition at home and abroad. ‘stranger. Protesters gathered early Monday outside the Fremont, Calif., factory where Tesla makes its cars.

The live video broadcast began shortly before 9:30 a.m. with Netanyahu and the Tesla CEO. Netanyahu’s official X account posted that he had a “one-on-one conversation” with Musk. The number of viewers fluctuated between 700 and 800 people.

The two started with a joke about deepfakes and quickly launched into a discussion about artificial intelligence as both a blessing and a curse for humanity.

Netanyahu said an important question regarding more advanced AI is: “How do we get the international regime to control this thing?” »

He said it would start by getting like-minded states to agree on a code of ethics and a code of conduct to foster the benefits and “curb the curses”, but he added that it would still be necessary to “police the planet” against rogue actors.

The free-wheeling conversation, which included jokes from both men, quickly turned to free speech and anti-Semitism, with Netanyahu telling Musk he hoped that, within the confines of the First Amendment, he could find a way to suppress anti-Semitism and others. forms of hatred on its social media platform.

“I encourage and urge you to find balance. This is a difficult question,” Netanyahu said.

Musk responded that he was “kind of against anything that promotes hatred and conflict,” the Washington Post reported. He added that he was “in favor of what moves civilization forward and ultimately leads us to become a space civilization”, and that “we can’t do that if there’s a lot of infighting, hatred and negativity. So I am obviously against anti-Semitism.”

Musk said that with 100 to 200 million posts on X per day, “some of them are going to be bad.” He then reiterated the platform’s policy of not promoting or amplifying hate speech.

Under Musk, the old Twitter changed its rules so that objectionable posts were generally not removed, but their visibility was limited, so people had to search for them if they wanted to see them. Musk calls this “freedom of speech, not freedom of scope.”

“Amplified” hate speech

Musk is accused of tolerating anti-Semitic messages on his social media platform. The Anti-Defamation League, a major Jewish civil rights organization, accused Musk of allowing anti-Semitism and hate speech to spread on X. Its director, Jonathan Greenblatt, said Musk had “ amplified” the messages of neo-Nazis and white supremacists. who want to ban the league by engaging with them recently on X.

In a September 4 post, Musk claimed the league was “trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it and me of being anti-Semitic.” In other posts, he said the league was responsible for a 60 percent drop in X’s revenue.

The group met this month with X CEO Linda Yaccarino. Musk and Yaccarino recently posted messages saying they oppose anti-Semitism.

Netanyahu’s meeting with Musk follows nine months of protests by Israelis against their prime minister’s plan to reform the country’s justice system. These protests have spread abroad, with groups of Israeli expatriates staging demonstrations during visits by Netanyahu and other members of his cabinet.

Netanyahu says the judicial overhaul plan is necessary to limit the powers of unelected judges, whom he and his allies characterize as liberal and overly interventionist. Critics say his plan is a power grab that will destroy the country’s system of checks and balances and push it toward autocratic rule.

Prominent figures from Israel’s influential high-tech community have played leading roles in the protests. They say weakening the justice system will harm the country’s business climate and drive away foreign investment. Israel’s currency, the shekel, has plunged this year, a sign of weakening foreign investment.