In short
- Elmo’s official X account was hacked Sunday and was used to put up antisemitic and racist messages, prompting swift condemnation.
- Sesame Workshop confirmed the breach, calling the posts “disgusting” and blaming an unknown hacker.
- The incident comes amid broader considerations about rising antisemitism and X’s failure to control hate speech.
Social media platform X drew additional criticism over the best way it moderates hate speech on Sunday after an official account belonging to Sesame’s Elmo spewed out antisemitic and violent messaging.
Sesame Workshop, the corporate behind Sesame Avenue, attributed the outburst to an “unknown hacker.”
“Elmo’s X account was compromised by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, together with antisemitic and racist posts,” a spokesperson advised CNN on Monday. “We’re working to revive full management of the account.”
It is a actual tweet from the Elmo X account. It has since been deleted.
We’re coping with wicked immoral sociopaths who goal even a beloved youngsters’s character in an effort to incite violence and hate in opposition to Jews. pic.twitter.com/Z6xezjuRfA
— The Persian Jewess (@persianjewess) July 13, 2025
It comes only a week after Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok launched right into a hate-filled tirade on X. Whereas that incident was reportedly as a consequence of a selected system immediate replace—later rolled again— the 2 occasions reveal underlying points plaguing the platform.
In Elmo’s case, among the many posts have been requires violence in opposition to Jewish folks and calls for for the discharge of information associated to Jeffrey Epstein.
Each incidents have sparked condemnation and renewed considerations over X’s weak safety measures and ongoing failure to regulate hate speech.
“The Elmo hack was the icing on the cake on the finish of a really unusual weekend,” an X person wrote.
“I believe the response many individuals needed to Elmo’s Twitter feed getting hacked is to surprise why Sesame Avenue thought it was acceptable for Elmo to have a feed on this Nazi hellsite in any respect,” Musk biographer Seth Abramson wrote. “You may argue that this hack was as predictable as Sesame Avenue having a letter of the day.”
Whereas the offensive posts have been rapidly deleted, screenshots continued to flow into on-line.
The non-profit Anti-Defamation League condemned the incident in a press release posted to X, calling the hack a disturbing instance of how hate can infiltrate social media.
“It’s appalling that [Elmo’s] official X account, identified for spreading kindness, was hacked yesterday solely to unfold violent antisemitism,” the Anti-Defamation League wrote. “Antisemitism on social media fosters the normalization of anti-Jewish hate on-line and offline, and contributes to an more and more threatening setting for Jewish folks all over the place.”
The incident comes amid a surge in antisemitism on-line.
An April 2025 report by the Anti-Defamation League discovered that antisemitic incidents within the U.S. have soared 893% over the previous decade.
In a separate February report, the American Jewish Committee reported that 69% of Jewish adults have skilled antisemitism on-line or on social media.
Los Angeles-based world Jewish human rights group, The Simon Wiesenthal Middle, in the meantime, has given X a “D” grade based mostly on an inventory of standards, together with phrases of service, oversight board, violent extremism coverage, and transparency, amongst others.
X and the Sesame Workshop didn’t reply to Decrypt’s requests for remark.
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