Social media platform X has sued Media Matters…
In what’s sure to be an explosive, litigious back and forth, Elon Musk and X are suing Media Matters for America and one of its staff members over an investigative report the progressive watchdog organization published saying Nazi content ran on the X app alongside advertisements from major corporations, NBC News reports.
In addition to Musk’s lawsuit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation into Media Matters for possible fraudulent activity.
“We are examining the issue closely to ensure that the public has not been deceived by the schemes of radical left-wing organizations who would like nothing more than to limit freedom by reducing participation in the public square,” Paxton said in a news release that Musk also posted to X.
Fraud has both civil & criminal penalties pic.twitter.com/BdC5Zfr1XM
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 21, 2023
From NBC News:
The lawsuit is a major escalation of a fight involving Musk, his critics and X’s shaky relationship with advertisers. Musk set off a firestormlast Wednesday when he published comments on X embracing a conspiracy theory that many consider antisemitic, and Media Matters published its report the next day saying Nazi posts had run next to ads from Apple, IBM and other companies.
Many of those advertisers have paused their spending on X in response to the report. (They include Comcast and NBCUniversal. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, which is the parent company of NBC News.)
In the lawsuit, X alleges that Media Matters’ portrayal of the app is untrue because its article did not reflect what typical users see.
“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,” the lawsuit says.
More over at NBC News:
Elon Musk's social media company, X, sues Media Matters for America over the watchdog’s report about ads appearing alongside Nazi content. https://t.co/nHHDS3JPC3
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 21, 2023