Disney might have tried to virtue signal their way out of supporting Elon Musk and his free speech venture but with a recent investigation, it’s pretty clear Musk is not only the good guy, but his public profanity-laden rant toward Disney recently was well-deserved.
Recall that Disney decided to stop advertising on Musk’s social media platform, X, by purposefully taking something Musk said out of context that made it seem like he was antisemitic. In truth, he was criticizing groups like the ADL, which have worked to grow anti-Western and antisemitic fervor themselves. Disney pulled the same trick they did to Gina Carano and accused Musk of something they knew he didn’t mean to sever ties.
It was pretty apparent that this was all for political reasons. Still, with a recent development involving Facebook and the unusually high presence of explicit material involving children, Disney’s virtue signal is looking less than virtuous.
According to CNBC, Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg are currently being sued by New Mexico after an undercover investigation found a “myriad” of “sexually explicit content being served to minors, child sexual coercion, or the sale of child sexual abuse material”:
The suit alleges that “certain child exploitative content” is ten times “more prevalent” on Facebook and Instagram as compared to pornography site PornHub and adult content platform OnlyFans, according to the release.
“Child exploitation is a horrific crime and online predators are determined criminals,” Meta said in a statement to CNBC. A spokesperson said that the company deploys “sophisticated technology, hire child safety experts, report content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and share information and tools with other companies and law enforcement, including state attorneys general, to help root out predators.”
Disney is a big advertiser on Meta’s social platforms, making their virtue signal against X look hollow, dishonest, and sinister.
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Don’t think Musk didn’t spike this football.
“Bob Eiger thinks it’s cool to advertise next to child exploitation material. Real stand up guy,” Elon posted on X.
Bob Eiger thinks it’s cool to advertise next to child exploitation material. Real stand up guy. https://t.co/7uMr6o9QVC
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 7, 2023
Again, the point of Disney withdrawing from X was never about ethics. The withdrawal of the House of Mouse from advertising on the platform was part of an attack to cripple, and hopefully end, the X platform which has become a place where leftist narratives go to die thanks to its free speech-centric quality and the presence of “community notes,” which gives users a way to add context to stories or claims that are misleading.
We’ll see if Disney stops advertising on Meta platforms to save face, and if we’re being honest, it’s probably one of the only moves they have that would save face. If they fail to, it’ll be one more piece of proof that Disney truly has been lost and that it’s concern for children is as non-existent as its ethics.
