Elon Musk admitted that he has harmed his social media platform X’s bottom line with his unhinged posts but still defended his tweets when he labeled a student a ‘neo-Nazi.’
Jewish student, Ben Brody, 22, sued the Tesla founder on October 2, 2023 in Travis County, Texas, after he told his millions of followers that the Californian student was part of an extremist group causing trouble at an LGBTQ event in Oregon.
On March 27, Musk sat down for a video recorded deposition along with attorneys from both parties.
X owner Musk was asked about the post that he made about Brody and said that he had ‘limited understanding’ of the suit and thought that it was Brody’s attorney suing him, not the student.
In regard to his platform, Musk said: ‘There’s some risk that what I say is incorrect, but one has to balance that against having a chilling effect on free speech in general, which would undermine the entire foundation of our democracy.’
He added that he ‘may have done more to financially impair’ the social media platform and that he is ‘guilty of many self-inflicted wounds.’
Elon Musk admitted that he has caused harm on X during a deposition for a lawsuit that filed against him in October 2023 by Ben Brody. Musk defended the tweet he made about him in July 2023
Jewish student, Ben Brody, 22, sued the Tesla founder after he told his millions of followers that the Californian student was part of an extremist group causing trouble at an LGBTQ event in Oregon
Musk tweeted: ‘Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt) and another is maybe an Antifa member, but nonetheless a probable false flag situation’
Throughout the deposition, Alex Spiro, Musk’s lawyer, and Brody’s attorney Mark Bankston repeatedly talked over each other.
When asked if Musk knew anything about Brody, Spiro jumped in and said that wasn’t ‘a question you’re allowed to ask in court.’
Brody – who is Jewish – is seeking more than $1 million in damages against Musk and lawyered up with Bankston – who also successfully represented Sandy Hook victims’ families when they sued conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
The fight, between the Proud Boys and neo-Nazi group Rose City Nationalists, was published on social media and caused many to think Brody was one of the members involved because he resembled one of the men in the clip.
Both groups of extremists got into the skirmish at the Oregon Pride event in July and in the middle of the fight, one of the members was physically unmasked – and in a panic, quickly covered his face. In an attempt to identify the member, accounts falsely said it was Brody.
At the time, Musk tweeted: ‘Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt) and another is maybe an Antifa member, but nonetheless a probable false flag situation.’
According to the lawsuit, Musk discovered that Brody was allegedly one of the people involved in the fight through another account on X named Dr Fresnor.
The suit said the account, which has amassed more than 300,000 followers, ‘features extreme right wing memes, neo-Nazi apologia/nostalgia, juvenile and cringe-worthy attempts at bigoted humor, low effort bait tweets, delusional panics over lazy hoaxes, and a cavalcade of absurdly false information.’
During the deposition, Musk was asked about the post that he made about Brody and said that he had ‘limited understanding’ of the suit and thought that it was Brody’s attorney suing him, not the student
Brody provided CCTV evidence to show he was actually at a shop in California when the fight broke out in Oregon
At the time, the account went on to post Brody’s personal information online and captioned a photo of him: ‘After graduation he plans to work for the government,’ suggesting that he was present at the fight.
Musk then re-posted that tweet and captioned his post: ‘Very odd.’
When asked by Bankston if Musk thought he failed Brody, he said he doesn’t ‘think he has been meaningfully harmed’ by his post.
‘People are attacked all the time in the media, online media, social media, but it is rare that that actually has a meaningful negative impact on their life,’ the CEO added.
Following the accusations that Brody was involved in the fight, he told CNN: ‘I started getting these text messages from my friends. ‘You’re accused of being a neo-Nazi fed, look at all this stuff that’s being said about you.’ And I was like, okay, this is just some prank.’
He attempted to clear his name twice, by going onto Instagram and making a video explaining that he was miles away in California when the conflict occurred in Oregon.
Even when he provided CCTV footage of him at a restaurant at the exact time the fight happened to prove his alibi, he was still branded a neo-Nazi.
Things got even worse when Musk jumped onto the bandwagon.
Brody recalled: ‘I knew that this was snowballing, but once Elon Musk commented, I was like boom, that’s the final nail in the coffin.
‘It massively intensifies it. This guy DM’d me on Instagram, he’s like, “Now even Elon Musk thinks that you’re a fed,” and what was really scary too is that these people were threatening to tell my school, and I was scared that I wasn’t going to graduate.’
Things got even worse when Elon Musk jumped onto the bandwagon. The student and his mother even had to leave their home after their address was leaked online
Brody’s attorney Mark Bankston, who also successfully represented Sandy Hook family victims who sued conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, said: ‘This case, at its core, is about Elon Musk being reckless in making an accusation about this young man’
‘I was terrified.’
When CNN asked Brody if he felt like his ‘life was ruined,’ he responded: ‘Yeah, completely.
‘If you just put in my name into the search bar, you know, ‘neo-Nazi fed Ben Brody.”
Brody was a political science major at the University of California, Riverside, and on college fraternity’s webpage, he had stated he wanted to work for the government – which caused even more of a stir among the trolls online.
He added: ‘I put that I wanted to work for the government. And that’s just because I didn’t know specifically what part of the government I wanted to work for. You know, I was like, I could be a lawyer.’
The student and his mother even had to leave their home after their address was leaked online.
His attorney Bankston said: ‘This case, at its core, is about Elon Musk being reckless in making an accusation about this young man.’
‘Ben published a video online to try to clear his name. It didn’t work. So there’s this incredible feeling of helplessness, that there’s millions out there, millions, who think that Ben was involved in neo-Nazi activities.’
‘How did we get to a place where somebody so powerful can make that kind of accusation based on something so flimsy, from just anonymous people on the internet?’
According to the lawsuit, Musk is ‘perhaps the most influential of all influencers, and his endorsement of the accusation against Ben galvanized other social media influencers and users to continue their attacks and harassment, as well as post accusations against Ben that will remain online forever.’
‘Musk has been personally using the platform to spread false statements on a consistent basis while propping up and amplifying the most reprehensible elements of conspiracy-addled Twitter.’
DailyMail.com contacted Musk and Brody’s attorney for comment.
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