Elon Musk is taking Media Matters to court, as promised, charging that the leftist watchdog group “knowingly and maliciously manufactured” photos portraying neo-Nazi and white-nationalist posts on X next to big marketers’ advertisements.
The complaint requests unspecified monetary damages as well as an injunction ordering Media Matters to “immediately delete, take down, or otherwise remove” the article titled “As Musk endorses antisemitic conspiracy theory, X has been placing ads for Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity next to pro-Nazi content.”
Also read: Watchdog files complaint against Elon Musk X for running “hundreds of unlabelled ads”
“This is a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X’s critics into silence,” stated Media Matters head Angelo Carusone in response. Media Matters stands behind its reporting and anticipates victory in court.”
On November 16, Media Matters revealed research revealing that five big businesses — Apple, IBM, NBCUniversal’s Bravo, Oracle, and Comcast’s Xfinity — had their ads broadcast next to posts that “tout Hitler and his Nazi Party” on X.
A day later, Media Matters released a report saying that it discovered advertisements for Amazon, NBA Mexico, NBCUniversal Catalyst, Action Network, and Club for Growth with white supremacist hashtags like “KeepEuropeWhite,” “white pride,” and “WLM” (“White Lives Matter”).
Also read: Elon Musk’s X Fails To Pay US $388,000 Australian Internet Online Safety Watchdog Fine
According to X’s lawsuit, Media Matters’ goal was to depict the Musk-owned social site “as being dominated by ‘white nationalist and antisemitic conspiracy theories,'” according to the complaint.
“This November alone Media Matters released over twenty articles (and counting) disparaging both X Corp. and Elon Musk — a blatant smear campaign.”
Media Matters, on the other hand, “exclusively followed a small subset of users consisting entirely of accounts in one of two categories: those known to produce extreme, fringe content, and accounts owned by X’s big-name advertisers,” according to the lawsuit filed by X.
According to the lawsuit, the research organization’s accounts generated 13-15 times more advertising per hour than the average X user in order to achieve the “result it desired: controversial content next to X’s largest advertisers.”
“The end result was a feed precision-designed by Media Matters for a single purpose: to produce side-by-side ad/content placements that it could screenshot in an effort to alienate advertisers.”
Also read: Elon Musk claims he purchased Twitter to save humanity from a “zombie apocalypse.”
“They pulled a scam,” Musk tweeted on X early Sunday about Media Matters.
The following are not mentioned in X’s lawsuit: On November 15, Musk agreed with an X user who claimed that Jews “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim they want people to stop using against them.” Musk said, “You have said the actual truth.
” The concept paralleled the “replacement theory” antisemitic conspiracy theory, which contends that Jews are attempting to “replace” white people with nonwhite immigrants. Musk was blasted by the White House for inciting “antisemitic and racist hatred.”
Following the Media Matters research and Musk’s backing of the antisemitic conspiracy theory, several prominent advertisers announced a halt to their spending on X, citing the Media Matters reports, Musk’s comments, or a combination of the two.
Disney, IBM, Lionsgate, Paramount Global, Comcast/NBCUniversal, Sony, and Warner Bros. Discovery were among them. Lionsgate, for example, stated it had “suspended advertising on X because of Elon Musk’s recent antisemitic tweet.”
The complaint was filed against Media Matters in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division. The action claims contract interference, commercial disparagement, and interference with prospective economic advantage.
“X Corp. was harmed by Defendant Media Matters’ actions: It lost advertisers as a result of Defendant’s interference,” the business claims in the complaint.
“If you know me, you know I’m committed to truth and fairness,” said Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, on Monday afternoon. Here’s the reality. No authentic user on X saw IBM, Comcast, or Oracle advertisements next to the content in Media Matters’ post.
Only two users noticed Apple’s advertisement adjacent to the content, one of which was Media Matters. Data triumphs over manipulation or accusations. Don’t let yourself get manipulated. “Stand by X.”
