X, formerly Twitter, has followed through with owner Elon Muskâs threat to sue the left-leaning nonprofit Media Matters. Media Matters reported last week that X âhas been placing ads for major brandsâ like Apple and IBM ânext to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.â Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino have dubbed the report unrepresentative of Xâs general user experience. Several companies nonetheless pulled ads after that report and Muskâs direct endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory â and Muskâs lawsuit claims Media Matters is legally liable for Xâs loss.
Technology
X sues Media Matters to silence moderation criticism
X owner Elon Musk sued as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into the nonprofit for showing that ads appeared by Nazi content.
Nearly simultaneously, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into Media Matters for âpotential fraudulent activity.â Musk posted the news on his X account, stating that âfraud has both civil and criminal penalties.â Musk had previously responded to a tweet by former Trump advisor Stephen Miller that suggested conservative attorneys general (like Paxton) look into fraud charges.
Neither Paxton nor X argues that Media Matters was falsely claiming to see ads on pro-Nazi content. In fact, the suit confirms that the screenshots the organization posted are real. But it alleges the organization âmanipulatedâ the service to make X serve the offending ads. âMedia Matters has manipulated the algorithms governing the user experience on X to bypass safeguards and create images of Xâs largest advertisersâ paid posts adjacent to racist, incendiary content, leaving the false impression that these pairings are anything but what they actually are: manufactured, inorganic, and extraordinarily rare.â The alleged manipulation involved creating an account that exclusively followed a combination of major brands and extremist content, then âendlessly scrolling and refreshing its unrepresentative, hand-selected feedâ until it saw a confluence of the two.
âWe are going to continue our work undeterred.â
The lawsuit accuses Media Matters of interference with contract, business disparagement, and interference with prospective economic advantage â claims that could be difficult to prove given the First Amendmentâs high bar for legally prosecuting speech. (Musk famously beat a libel suit after falsely dubbing one of his critics a âpedo guy.â) âWe are going to continue our work undeterred. If he sues us, we will win,â the organizationâs president Angelo Carusone told The Verge in a previous statement, saying that âElon Musk has spent the last few days making meritless legal threats, elevating bizarre conspiracy theories, and lobbing vicious personal attacks against his âenemiesâ online.â Carusone reiterated the sentiment after the suit was filed. âThis is a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully Xâs critics into silence,â he said. âMedia Matters stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court.â
As one of the worldâs richest men, however, Musk has tremendous resources at his disposal â and X seems to be doing some forum shopping to boost its odds. The company filed its lawsuit in Texas, which is neither its nor Media Mattersâ primary place of business. As legal blogger Ken White noted, a Texas filing protects X from claims that it filed a strategic lawsuit against public participation (or SLAPP), something it might face in its home base of California. Another organization that X sued, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, recently hit back with an anti-SLAPP motion in that state. Moving the lawsuit also puts it under the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has proven highly sympathetic to conservative figures who claim theyâve been censored â something Musk has made a centerpiece of his publicity strategy around X.
Yaccarino, meanwhile, has insisted that advertisers arenât permanently pulling back their X presence. âSome advertisers may have temporarily paused but I do want to go on record, I had several really good conversations today,â she told employees at an all-hands after the lawsuit, according to Fortune. But she suggested employees âbe as fiscally responsible as possibleâ to offset potential losses from advertisers and exhorted them to âby all means, put your heads together to bring new revenue into the company.â
Update 9:15PM ET: Added statement from Media Matters.