14 Jewish Groups Leave X as Elon Musk Doubles Down on Nazi Rhetoric

Fourteen U.S. Jewish groups announced they were leaving the social media platform X on Monday. A statement from the groups cited the rise of antisemitism on the social media platform since Elon Musk purchased the site in late 2022, as well as the “coarsening of discourse that is so pervasive on X,” but didn’t specifically call out Musk’s recent Nazi-style salutes.

The 14 groups released a joint letter explaining their decision to leave X, signed by leaders at the Union for Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, among others.

“As Jewish groups committed to healing what is broken in our world, we aim to do our work through means that similarly foster repair,” the statement read.

“In study after study, as well as our lived experiences, X has become a platform that promotes hate, antisemitism, and societal division. Under the leadership of Elon Musk, X has reduced content moderation, promoted white supremacists, and re-platformed purveyors of conspiracy theories.”

The statement also called out the billionaire owner directly, noting that, “Musk himself has re-posted content that is antisemitic and xenophobic, promoting it to his millions of followers.”

Musk hasn’t just reposted content that’s anitsemitic and xenophobic, of course. The tech oligarch also gave two Nazi-style salutes at a post-inauguration rally on Jan. 20 for Donald Trump, who he helped get elected as president through roughly a quarter billion dollars in spending before the presidential election in November.

Even more recently, Musk made a virtual appearance at a German rally for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) political party, which has been criticized for its links to neo-Nazis. Musk has previously said AfD is the only thing that can “save Germany,” and spoke for about four minutes via video stream on Saturday.

“It’s good to be proud of German culture and German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything,” Musk said as his head was projected on the screen and the crowd cheered.

Elon Musk tells an AfD rally in Germany: “I think there is too much focus on past guilt (in Germany), and we need to move beyond that. Children should not feel guilty for the sins of their parents – their great grandparents even” pic.twitter.com/xtFMfAYrIp

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) January 25, 2025

Musk told the roughly 4,000-person crowd that Germans have “frankly too much of a focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that,” clearly referring to the atrocities of the Nazis during the 1930s and 40s.

“Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their parents, their great-grandparents,” Musk said.

Earlier this month, Musk hosted a discussion on X with a leader from AfD, Alice Weidel, where the two made the false claim that Adolf Hitler was a communist. Hitler was not a communist, though far-right extremists often like to make that claim.

Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, worth about $417 billion according to Forbes, and wields enormous influence in both the world of business and government. And it’s that influence that makes vulnerable groups so nervous as President Trump begins to enact his policies to completely reshape American life.

The full list of Jewish groups that have left X include:

• Union for Reform Judaism
• ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
• American Conference of Cantors
• Avodah
• Central Conference of American Rabbis
• Jewish Women’s Archive
• Keshet
• MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger
• PEP-RJ (Programming and Engagement Professionals of Reform Judaism)
• Reconstructing Judaism
• Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
• T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
• The Shalom Center
• The Workers Circle

“No social media site is free of challenges, and social media’s impact on individuals and society overall requires greater study and effective responses,” the statement from the groups reads. “Some of us may maintain accounts on X to ensure our handles are not assumed by other entities with values contrary to our own. But rather than contribute to the coarsening of discourse that is so pervasive on X, going forward, we will post content elsewhere.”

X did not respond to questions emailed on Monday. Gizmodo will update this post if we hear back.