Elon Musk threatens to file ‘thermonuclear’ lawsuit against media watchdog

Billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday (Nov 18) threatened to sue media watchdog Media Matters and others who attacked X, following moves by several large American companies to halt advertising on the social media giant after being promoted alongside antisemitic content. In a statement posted on X, Musk said without naming any companies, "The split-second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company."

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He further said that "to manipulate public and advertisers, Media Matters created an alternate account and curated the posts and advertising appearing on the account's timeline to misinform advertisers about the placement of their posts. These contrived experiences could be applied to any platform."

Companies pause advertising on X following Musk backing antisemitic post

On Friday, Media Matters added Apple, Disney, Comcast, Lionsgate Entertainment, and Paramount Global to its list of companies pausing advertising on X. The halts came after Musk on Wednesday endorsed an antisemitic post on X that falsely claimed members of the Jewish community were stoking hatred against white people. This endorsement came amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

On Thursday, IBM announced it stopped advertising on X due to a report its ads were shown next to pro-Nazi posts at X.

Paying subscribers at X big spreaders of misinformation about Israel-Hamas war

Musk's backing of the antisemitic post drew sharp condemnation including from the White House. Referring to Musk's post, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said it was "unacceptable" to repeat such a "hideous lie."

"We condemn this abhorrent promotion of anti-Semitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans," Bates said.

In a recent study, disinformation monitoring group NewsGuard found that paying subscribers at X were the big spreaders of misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war.

"During all of this Musk-induced chaos, corporate advertisements have also been appearing on pro-Hitler, Holocaust denial, white nationalist, pro-violence, and neo-Nazi accounts," Media Matters said.

The terms ‘thermonuclear’ lawsuits and verdicts are used in instances where the damages awarded by the jury against corporations are huge, often in excess of $100 million.

(With inputs from agencies)