Elon Musk, the controversial owner of the social media platform X, paid a private visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau site on Monday before addressing a conference on the rise of antisemitism. Musk toured the former Nazi concentration camp with EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin, conservative journalist Ben Shapiro, and Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev. During his visit, Musk laid a wreath at the Wall of Death and took part in a short memorial ceremony and service at the Birkenau memorial. This visit came after Musk's X platform was criticized for its handling of antisemitic content.

🚨🇺🇸🇮🇱 Elon Musk and Ben Shapiro visited the concentration camp Auschwitz today as they co-sign the GENOCIDE of 23,000 civilians in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/40y0WC57V0

— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) January 22, 2024

Several major advertisers had paused spending or left the platform after Musk described an antisemitic conspiracy theory as the "actual truth". Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group, reported finding ads next to posts that supported Nazism, prompting the advertiser exit. In response, X filed a lawsuit against Media Matters for defamation. This recent visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau is not the first time Musk has publicly spoken out against antisemitism. Last November, he traveled to Israel and stated that X would not promote hate speech and that he was against anything that promotes hate and conflict.

Critics have accused Musk of tolerating antisemitic messages on the platform, but he maintains that X is a place where freedom of speech flourishes and that a free exchange of ideas ultimately helps to correct hatred. The Auschwitz Memorial, which preserves the site of the death camp where more than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, perished, has previously criticized X for failing to remove an antisemitic post on the site. Musk's visit to the memorial comes as a part of a larger effort to address rising antisemitism and promote understanding and education about the Holocaust.