Elon Musk’s X Corporation filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Media Matters on Monday, alleging that it led advertisers to withdraw from the platform, formerly Twitter, by presenting it as a hub for anti-Semitic content.
In the lawsuit filed in a US federal court in Texas, X accuses Media Matters of manipulating the algorithm, making it appear as if the organization desired exposure to hateful content and advertisements from major brands.
Recall that High-profile companies such as Apple, Comcast, NBCUniversal, and IBM paused advertising on X after Media Matters reported instances of ads alongside pro-Nazi content.
The advertising pullout coincided with Musk’s endorsement of an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, drawing criticism from the White House for promoting abhorrent views.
Media Matters president Angelo Carusone dismissed the lawsuit as an attempt to silence critics and reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to its reporting.
While the suit blames Media Matters for the recent ad issues, it notably omits any reference to Musk’s endorsement of the conspiracy theory. Instead, it alleges that Media Matters manipulated images to misrepresent advertisers’ posts on the platform.
X seeks unspecified damages from Media Matters and requests the removal of the report. Since Musk assumed control of Twitter, now rebranded as X, the platform has seen modifications in content moderation, including restored accounts of previously banned extremists and the sale of account verification, allowing users to profit from often inaccurate viral posts.
An X executive mentioned that the flagged accounts highlighted by Media Matters would no longer generate ad revenue. Additionally, posts deemed sensitive would be labeled as “sensitive media.”