Elon Musk has sued a Left-wing pressure group after it alleged X, formerly known as Twitter, was putting adverts next to anti-Semitic content.
The billionaire – who bought the social media site for £38billion last October – has accused Media Matters of ‘potential fraudulent activity’ after the group revealed adverts from tech companies including IBM, Apple and Oracle had appeared alongside pro-Nazi content.
The media watchdog’s reports sparked a furious backlash from advertisers who have pulled their advertising in recent days.
In a lawsuit filed in Texas, Musk’s legal team accused Media Matters of distorting how likely it is for ads to appear beside extremist content on X, suggesting the methods used did not represent how real users experience the site.
‘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 complaint said.
Legal fight: Elon Musk (pictured) has accused Media Matters of ‘potential fraudulent activity’ after the group revealed adverts had appeared alongside pro-Nazi content
‘Media Matters designed both these images and its resulting media strategy to drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.’
Walt Disney, Comcast and Warner Bros have all cut ties with X since the reports first emerged.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has told staff to pull advertising because of ‘an alarming increase in disinformation and hate speech’.
The lawsuit calls for a judicial order forcing Media Matters to remove its analysis from its website.
But Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters, stood by its claims.
‘This is a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X’s critics into silence,’ Carusone said. Founded in 2004, the Washington-based non-profit organisation focuses on flagging conservative misinformation.
But Ted Boutrous, partner at law firm Gibson Dunn, said: ‘This lawsuit is riddled with legal flaws, and it is highly ironic that a platform that touts itself as a beacon of free speech would file a bogus case like this that flatly contradicts basic First Amendment principles and targets free speech by a critic.’
This has all put huge pressure on X’s chief executive Linda Yaccarino.
On Monday, she said: ‘Here’s the truth. Not a single authentic user on X saw IBM’s, Comcast’s, or Oracle’s ads next to the content in Media Matters’ article.’
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