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IBM Pulls Ads from Elon Musk's X over pro-Nazi Posts

A Media Matters report that Apple and IBM ads were displayed next to pro-Nazi posts at X, formerly known as Twitter, came as owner Elon Musk was criticized for endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory on the platform. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP
A Media Matters report that Apple and IBM ads were displayed next to pro-Nazi posts at X, formerly known as Twitter, came as owner Elon Musk was criticized for endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory on the platform. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP
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IBM Pulls Ads from Elon Musk's X over pro-Nazi Posts

A Media Matters report that Apple and IBM ads were displayed next to pro-Nazi posts at X, formerly known as Twitter, came as owner Elon Musk was criticized for endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory on the platform. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP
A Media Matters report that Apple and IBM ads were displayed next to pro-Nazi posts at X, formerly known as Twitter, came as owner Elon Musk was criticized for endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory on the platform. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP

IBM on Thursday said it has stopped advertising on X due to a report its ads were shown next to pro-Nazi posts at the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The move came as X owner Elon Musk faced criticism for endorsing an unfounded antisemitic conspiracy theory on the service.
Nonprofit Media Matters on Thursday reported that it found Apple, Oracle and IBM ads displayed next to posts touting Hitler and the Nazi Party on X.
"IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation," the New York based tech firm said in response to an AFP inquiry.
An X executive told AFP that it did a "sweep" of accounts pointed out by Media Matters and they will no longer be able to make money from ads.
The posts themselves will be labeled "sensitive media," according to the executive.
"Ads follow the people on X, in this case the Media Matter's researcher that was going to actively look for this content - that's how user targeting works," the executive said in an emailed reply.
In the year since taking over Twitter, now rebranded as X, Musk has gutted content moderation, restored accounts of previously banned extremists, and allowed users to purchase account verification, helping them profit from viral -- but often inaccurate -- posts.
Musk has also promoted Community Notes, in which X users police the platform, as a tool to combat misinformation.
A recent study by the disinformation monitoring group NewsGuard found that paying subscribers at X were the big spreaders of misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war.
"During all of this Musk-induced chaos, corporate advertisements have also been appearing on pro-Hitler, Holocaust denial, white nationalist, pro-violence, and neo-Nazi accounts," Media Matters said in a post displaying samples of what it found at X.
Musk caused an uproar on Wednesday by endorsing an antisemitic post on X that claimed members of the Jewish community were stoking hatred against white people.
The tycoon later turned his criticism to the Anti-Defamation League, the nonprofit that fights antisemitism that he has accused of chasing advertisers from X.

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US May Target Samsung, Hynix, TSMC Operations in China

A man walks past the logo of Samsung Electronics displayed outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 30, 2025. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
A man walks past the logo of Samsung Electronics displayed outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 30, 2025. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
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US May Target Samsung, Hynix, TSMC Operations in China

A man walks past the logo of Samsung Electronics displayed outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 30, 2025. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
A man walks past the logo of Samsung Electronics displayed outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 30, 2025. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

The US Department of Commerce is considering revoking authorizations granted in recent years to global chipmakers Samsung, SK Hynix and TSMC, making it more difficult for them to receive US goods and technology at their plants in China, according to people familiar with the matter.

The chances of the United States withdrawing the authorizations are unclear. But with such a move, it would be harder for foreign chipmakers to operate in China, where they produce semiconductors used in a wide range of industries, Reuters said.

A White House official said the United States was "just laying the groundwork" in case the truce reached between the two countries fell apart. But the official expressed confidence that the trade agreement would go forward and that rare earths would flow from China, as agreed.

"There is currently no intention of deploying this tactic," the official said. "It's another tool we want in our toolbox in case either this agreement falls through or any other catalyst throws a wrench in bilateral relations."

Shares of US chip equipment makers that supply plants in China fell when the Wall Street Journal first reported the news earlier on Friday. KLA Corp dropped 2.4%, Lam Research fell 1.9% and Applied Materials sank 2%. Shares of Micron, a major competitor to Samsung and SK Hynix in the memory chip sector, rose 1.5%.

A TSMC spokesman declined comment. Samsung and Hynix did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lam Research, KLA and Applied Materials did not immediately respond, either.

In October 2022, after the United States placed sweeping restrictions on US chipmaking equipment to China, it gave foreign manufacturers like Samsung and Hynix letters authorizing them to receive goods.

In 2023 and 2024, the companies received what is known as Validated End User status in order to continue the trade.

A company with VEU status is able to receive designated goods from a US company without the supplier obtaining multiple export licenses to ship to them. VEU status enables entities to receive US-controlled products and technologies "more easily, quickly and reliably," as the Commerce Department website puts it.

The VEU authorizations come with conditions, a person familiar with the matter said, including prohibitions on certain equipment and reporting requirements.

“Chipmakers will still be able to operate in China," a Commerce Department spokesperson said in a statement when asked about the possible revocations. "The new enforcement mechanisms on chips mirror licensing requirements that apply to other semiconductor companies that export to China and ensure the United States has an equal and reciprocal process.”

Industry sources said that if it became more difficult for US semiconductor equipment companies to ship to foreign multinationals, it would only help domestic Chinese competitors.

"It’s a gift," one said.