California, United States

Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, sued a non-profit research group, on Monday (July 31) which investigates hate speech on the social media platforms alleging that they pushed false claims and encouraged advertisers to pause investment on the platform.

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X’s accusations 

The lawsuit was filed in a United States district court in Northern California where X alleged that the American and British operations of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) “engaged in a series of unlawful acts” and “improperly” accessed “protected X Corp. data.”

This comes a day after American media reported that the Elon Musk-owned social media platform sent a letter to the organisation and threatened to sue the non-profit for unspecified damages.

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The social media giant also accused CCDH of researchers violating its terms of service as well as breach of contract, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and intentional interference with contractual relations, in a “scare campaign to drive away advertisers,” with “incendiary claims”. 

The microblogging platform also asks that CCDH be barred from accessing materials licensed to a tool that, according to Musk’s lawyers, was allegedly used by the group to obtain the data used for the report. 

CCDH report about X/Twitter

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Musk, who is a self-described free-speech absolutist, as per reports has welcomed back white supremacists and election deniers to the platform after his takeover and reinstated previously banned accounts. 

The lawsuit stems from a report by Bloomberg published in July which cited findings from CCDH’s research and said that hate speech had increased towards minority communities on X.  

The organisation, which also studies hate speech, extremism and harmful behaviour on social media platforms including X, TikTok and Facebook, has published several reports critical of Musk’s leadership after the takeover. It has also documented an increase in anti-LGBTQ hate speech as well as climate misinformation. 

However, as per American media reports, X’s attorney cited a report from June that showed that the microblogging platform failed to remove neo-Nazi and anti-LGBTQ content from verified users that violated its rules. 

The CCDH report in June said Twitter had failed to take action against 99 of the 100 paid accounts the organisation had flagged with user-reporting tools for hateful conduct, among which was an anti-Semitic post and a transphobic post. 

In a recent statement, X and its CEO Linda Yaccarino labelled the report false and inaccurate, adding that it was based on “a collection of incorrect, misleading, and outdated metrics, mostly from the period shortly after Twitter’s acquisition.”

Musk declares an ‘open war’

In response to X’s letter threatening to sue the research organisation, CCHD hit back and accused the social media platform of “intimidating those who have the courage to advocate against incitement, hate speech and harmful content online,” adding that their allegations have no factual basis.

In an interview with The Associated Press, CCHD founder and CEO Imran Ahmed called the lawsuit an “unprecedented escalation by a social media company against independent researchers.” He added, “Musk has just declared open war”. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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