Elon Musk's X Takes Legal Action Against Media Matters for 'Malicious' Report

Quincy Jon, Tech Times 21 November 2023, 11:11 am

Elon Musk's social network business, X, filed a lawsuit on Monday against the liberal advocacy organization Media Matters for America, claiming that its report was fabricated.

X claims that Media Matters intentionally created a report to showcase advertisers' posts alongside neo-Nazi and white nationalist content, with the purported aim to "drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp."

Media Matters, based in Washington, D.C., dismissed the lawsuit as "frivolous," according to AP News.

The X lawsuit comes as advertisers are withdrawing from the platform, formerly known as Twitter, over concerns their ads will include hate speech with pro-Nazi comments. Billionaire owner Elon Musk's posts endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory have added to the controversy.

Major Brands Pulling Out Ads from X

Major companies, including IBM, NBCUniversal, Disney, Paramount, and Comcast, recently halted their advertising on X following the Media Matters report, per CNN. This poses a significant setback for X, which relies heavily on ad revenue as its primary income source.

The Media Matters report implicated prominent brands, such as Apple and Oracle, stating that their ads were placed next to antisemitic material on X. The report also identified ads from Amazon, NBA Mexico, NBCUniversal, and others adjacent to white nationalist hashtags.

X, headquartered in San Francisco, retaliated with a complaint filed in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas. The complaint accuses Media Matters of "knowingly and maliciously" depicting ads alongside hateful material in a manner not representative of typical user experiences on the platform. X claims that Media Matters manipulated algorithms to manufacture images of advertisers' posts beside racist and incendiary content, characterizing the juxtapositions as "manufactured, inorganic, and extraordinarily rare."

Media Matters Head Confident on Winning Case

Media Matters stands firm, asserting that it stands by its reporting and anticipates success in court. Angelo Carusone, the president of the non-profit, labeled the lawsuit as an attempt to silence critics.

"Musk is a bully who threatens meritless lawsuits in an attempt to silence reporting that he even confirmed is accurate," Carusone said in a statement, as quoted by Mashable. He added that Musk expressed confidence in winning any potential lawsuit while acknowledging that the in-question ads appeared alongside Media Matters' identified pro-Nazi content.

The lawsuit marks a turbulent period for X, with a substantial number of major advertisers withdrawing their support, impacting the company's reputation. The controversy follows Musk's public endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory, further contributing to the platform's challenges.

This month, as reported earlier by TechTimes, Elon Musk has once again ignited a firestorm of controversy on X (formerly Twitter), as he endorsed claims suggesting that Jewish communities objecting to antisemitism exhibit the "exact kind" of hatred against white people. His comments were made in response to a user's post accusing Jewish communities of perpetuating "dialectical hatred against whites."

In a now-deleted tweet, Elon Musk applauded the user, stating that they had spoken the "actual truth." The user's comments linked Jewish communities to the promotion of hatred against whites, blaming them for supporting "hordes of minorities" entering their countries.

Despite the mounting criticism, X CEO Linda Yaccarino expressed the company's unwavering stance against discrimination. She emphasized the need for everyone to cease discriminatory practices across the board.

"X's point of view has always been very clear: discrimination by everyone should stop across the board. I think that's something we can and should all agree on," Yaccarino tweeted on Friday.