Elon Musk, Chairman of X (Formerly Twitter) | Duncan Hill | Wikipedia Commons
Elon Musk, Chairman of X (Formerly Twitter) | Duncan Hill | Wikipedia Commons
FORT WORTH – X Corp. (formerly Twitter) has filed a federal lawsuit against "watchdog" organization Media Matters for intentional deception, alleging that the non-profit conducted a malicious smear campaign to damage its reputation and revenue stream.
X Corp. filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Fort Worth Division against Media Matters for America and one of the company's writers, Eric Hananoki, citing allegations of defamation, intentional interference with contractual relations, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.
According to court documents, X Corp. Chairman Elon Musk claims that Media Matters targeted the social media platform for allowing diverse viewpoints and because of Musk's strong support for free speech. The lawsuit accuses Media Matters of fabricating images to portray the platform as a hub for "white nationalist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories," leading major advertisers to withdraw their spending from X.
The lawsuit accuses Media Matters of exclusively following certain users that produce extreme content and manipulating algorithms to create misleading screenshots of advertisers' posts being displayed alongside objectionable content. X Corp. argues these images were deceptive and caused harm by persuading advertisers to withdraw their business from X based on false information. According to the lawsuit, major advertisers, including Apple, Comcast, NBCUniversal, and IBM, withdrew their ads from X, citing the unacceptable situation of their advertisements being paired with controversial fringe content.
Musk and X have also filed a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) in the UK, claiming defamation and violation of terms of service.
Advertisers have left the platform in droves, with half of Twitter's top 100 advertisers departing since Musk announced a shift away from government-led censorship.
X Corp. is represented by Texas attorneys John C. Sullivan of S|L Law, PLLC in Cedar Hill and Judd E. Stone and Christopher D. Hilton of Stone|Hilton, PLLC in Austin.
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