United States: Social media platform X, owned by Mr. Elon Musk, has filed a lawsuit against media-related pressure group Media Matters. The X alleged that Media Matters defamed the platform through a report that said ads for major brands had appeared next to posts supporting Nazism.
X, formerly known as Twitter, has faced widespread criticism and outrage after the release of the Media Matters report, which led IBM, Comcast, and several other advertisers to pull ads from the platform in response.
In the lawsuit filed in a US district court in Texas, X claimed Media Matters “manipulated” the social media platform by using accounts that exclusively followed accounts for major brands or users known to produce fringe content and “resorted to endlessly scrolling and refreshing” the feed until it found ads next to extremist posts.
X’s lawsuit further alleged that Media Matters for America “manipulated” data in an attempt to “destroy” the platform.
According to reports, firms including Apple, Disney, IBM, and Comcast have stopped advertising on X since the watchdog released its analysis.
The lawsuit remarked that “Media Matters knowingly and maliciously manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers’ posts on X Corp’s social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white-nationalist fringe content and then portrayed these manufactured images as if they were what typical X users experience on the platform.”
“Media Matters designed both these images and its resulting media strategy to drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp,” the lawsuit added.
X noted that “ads for Comcast, Oracle, and IBM had only appeared alongside hateful content for Media Matters and no other viewer.”
After the Media Matters allegations, the European Commission, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Lionsgate have also pulled ad dollars from X.
Recently, Mr. Musk vowed to file a “thermonuclear” lawsuit against Media Matters and anyone “who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company”.
After Mr. Musk threatened the lawsuit, Media Matters called him a bully. Mr. Angelo Carusone, President of Media Matters, said they would win any legal action.
“Far from the free speech advocate he claims to be, Musk is a bully who threatens meritless lawsuits in an attempt to silence reporting that he even confirmed is accurate,” Mr. Carusone said in a statement.
