Elon Musk visits Auschwitz amid surge in antisemitic post on X, admits being 'naive'

Krakow - After being accused of allowing the rise of antisemitism on his social media platform X, formally known as Twitter, billionaire Elon Musk paid a visit to the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on Monday. The Tesla CEO toured the site that housed one of the most draconian extermination camps established under Nazi Germany during World War II. After the visit to the region, he attended a conference on antisemitism which was organised by the European Jewish Association in the Polish city of Krakow, The Wall Street Journal reported. While speaking at the conference, Musk admitted that he was “naive” about the horrific extent of antisemitism and insisted that the tragedy of the Holocaust “hits you much more in the heart when you see it in person.”

“In the circles that I move, I see almost no antisemitism,” Musk said at the conference while having a discussion with conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro. “And, you know, there’s this old joke ‘I’ve got like this one Jewish friend.’ No, I have like two-thirds of my friends who are Jewish. I have twice as many Jewish friends as non-Jewish friends. I’m like Jewish by association, I’m aspirationally Jewish," he added. During his discussion with Shapiro, Musk defended his social media platform and insisted that it is a place where freedom of speech flourishes. “The overarching goal for the X platform is to be the best source of truth in the world,” the Tesla CEO averred. “The relentless pursuit of the truth is the goal with X and allowing people to say what they want to say, even if it’s controversial, provided that it does not break the law,” he furthered. 

Musk visits the site with his 3-year-old 

During his visit to the doomed site, the SpaceX CEO was accompanied by his 3-year-old son, Shaprio and the founder and head of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin. “It was incredibly moving and deeply sad and tragic that humans could do this to other humans,” Musk said about the visit.  “I’m a student of history, so I had seen the pictures, I’d seen the videos, but ... it hits you much more in the heart when you see it in person," he explained. Musk was initially scheduled to visit the site on Tuesday, however, due to some scheduling reasons, he decided to prepone his visit. “Due to schedule concerns, before Elon Musk’s arrival at the European Jewish Association conference, he took part in a private visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau with EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Ben Shapiro and Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev. Musk laid a wreath at the wall of death and took part in a short memorial ceremony and service by the Birkenau memorial,” the EJA said in an email. In the past, the Tesla CEO has faced accusations from the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil rights organization, and others of tolerating antisemitic messages that are being propagated on the platform. Several big brands, including Disney and IBM, stopped advertising on the platform last year after liberal advocacy group Media Matters revealed that their ads were appearing alongside pro-Nazi content. 

(With inputs from the Associated Press)