Netanyahu visits Tesla factory, sits down with Musk

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kicked off his U.S. visit by touring Tesla’s San Jose factory and livestreaming on X with its founder, Elon Musk.

What happened?
In the one-hour broadcast on X, Netanyahu spoke about his interest in making Israel an artificial intelligence (AI) powerhouse and asked Musk to take stringent actions on anti-semitic speech on the social media platform while allowing free speech to flourish.

Musk agreed and pointed out that he is against all forms of hate speech on X. But he added that with 100 million to 200 million posts a day, some are “gonna be bad.”

Both agreed that that problem is bots that amplify hatred, prompting X owner Musk to slide in the suggestion of charging users, making it hard for bot farms to operate.

Controversies
The two discussed each other’s controversies, like the Israel PM’s judicial overhaul decision back home and Musk’s open criticism of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a pro-Jewish civil rights organization.

ADL and Musk
Musk recently said ADL was “falsely accusing it (X) & me of being anti-Semitic” and said the organization was responsible for a 60% drop in the app’s revenue. He further claimed ADL urged companies to stop posting ads on X.

But analysts tracking the app’s performance say Musk’s chaotic changes since the takeover led to the decline in advertisers.

Judicial overhaul and Netanyahu
Musk mentioned he “probably got the most amount of pushback from people at Tesla about this interview than anything else I’ve ever done.” 

Part of the reason behind the pushback was Netanyahu’s proposed bill that reduces Israel’s Supreme Court’s power—a move that caused mass protests inside and outside the country from civilians, soldiers, and leading figures of Israel’s tech community.

Netanyahu stressed the plan was to curb the powers of unelected judges.