Elon Musk has intensified his war on Disney and its CEO Bob Iger, asking why the company doesn’t suspend its ads on Meta after recent allegations that content on its sites enabled child-sex trafficking.
The businessman’s anger towards Disney and Iger started after the company pulled advertising from X, formerly Twitter. Musk bought the social-media platform in October 2022 for $44 billion and has since rebranded it and cut the staff numbers. Newsweek reached out to Musk and Disney for comment via email Friday.
Several major companies pulled advertising this month after he publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory amid growing concerns over rising antisemitism on X.
Disney had long been one of the platform’s top advertisers, but it joined brands such as Warner Bros, Apple and Comcast in no longer advertising on the platform. Tesla investors have also distanced themselves.
Now, in a flurry of tweets posted to X on Thursday, Musk has called out Disney for still advertising on Facebook and Instagram after a lawsuit was filed Wednesday by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez.
Chris Delmas/Michael M. Santiago/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images
The suit was filed after an undercover investigation allegedly revealed myriad instances of sexually explicit content being served to minors, child sexual coercion, or the sale of child sexual abuse material, per CNBC. The suit alleges that Meta, which is Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, failed to identify predator networks on its sites—Meta has denied those claims.
Musk retweeted the CNBC article and added: “Why no advertiser boycott, Bob Eiger [sic]? You are endorsing this material!”
Another X account also tweeted the article, writing: “Sponsored by the Walt Disney Corporation.” Musk retweeted this post, adding: “Bob Eiger thinks it’s cool to advertise next to child exploitation material. Real stand up guy.”
The businessman didn’t stop there as he also posted a screenshot of a November 28 piece in right-wing satire outlet Babylon Bee titled “Disney Awarded Defense Contract After Producing More Bombs Than Lockheed Martin,” captioning the photo: “Congratulations on the award! Well-deserved.”
Musk then retweeted a post from Collin Rugg, the co-owner of right-leaning news website Trending Politics.
“NEW: New Mexico has sued Meta & Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly enabling child s*xual abuse material to be distributed,” Rugg wrote alongside screenshots of ads being run by Disney on Meta.
“Hey @RobertIger & other advertisers: Will you be suspending advertising on Facebook & Instagram like you did with X? Disney is currently running ~300 ads for Disneyland and Disney World on Meta. (Examples attached).
“The lawsuit claims META was showing s*xually explicit content to minors, child s*xual coercion, and the sale of child s*xual abuse material according to New Mexico attorney general Raúl Torrez.
“I’ll answer the question above: No, advertisers will not suspend advertising because they’re lying hacks.”
When Musk retweeted the post, he added: “Crazy that Disney has to be sued to stop this terrible behavior.”
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO first declared war with Disney when he told Iger to “go f*** yourself” when he appeared at the New York Times Dealbook Summit on November 29.
“What this advertising boycott is going to do is, it is going to kill the company,” Musk said when asked about Disney and other companies stopping advertising on X. “And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company.”
Musk also spoke about Iger directly, saying: “Don’t advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself.
“Go f*** yourself, is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience. That’s how I feel, don’t advertise.”
Iger had spoken at the summit earlier in the day and also addressed Disney’s decision to stop advertising on Musk’s platform.
“I have a lot of respect for Elon and what he has accomplished,” Iger said. “We know that Elon is larger than life in many respects, and that his name is very much connected to the companies he founded or owns. By him taking the position he took in a public manner, we felt that the association was not necessarily a positive one for us.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.