The White House on Friday condemned the owner of social media platform X and the world's richest person, Elon Musk, for "abhorrent promotion" of anti-Semitism.
Referring to a Musk post on X, formerly called Twitter, in which he endorsed an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said it was "unacceptable" to repeat such a "hideous lie."
"We condemn this abhorrent promotion of anti-Semitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans," Bates said. "We all have a responsibility to bring people together against hate, and an obligation to speak out against anyone who attacks the dignity of their fellow Americans and compromises the safety of our communities."
The White House was reacting to a post by Musk in which the controversial Tesla and SpaceX tycoon replied to an anti-Semitic post on X with the words: "You have said the actual truth."
The original post has been perceived by the White House and the U.S. media as a reference to a longtime conspiracy theory among white supremacists that Jews have a secret plan to bring in illegal immigrants to weaken white majorities.
Most notoriously, the idea was promoted by the man who carried out a mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, killing 11 people.
"It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of anti-Semitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust," Bates said, referring to the Oct. 7 assault by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel.