Musk’s X sues media nonprofit after report portrays platform as full of antisemitic content

Elon Musk’s social media company X has sued nonprofit Media Matters accusing the organisation of defaming the platform after it published a report which said that ads for major brands appeared next to posts hailing Hitler and the Nazi party.

The platform, according to the lawsuit filed in the United States District Court in Texas, alleges that the media non-profit is driving advertisers away by portraying X as full ofantisemitic content.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden on Monday (Nov 20) announced that he is joining Threads, Meta’s social media rival to X, days after the White House blasted Musk’s “abhorrent promotion” of anantisemitic conspiracy theory.

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Musk sues media nonprofit

In the lawsuit, X claimed that the media non-profit “manipulated” the platform by “tricking the algorithm into thinking Media Matters wanted to view both hateful content and content from large advertisers.”

It also alleged that the media non-profit used accounts that exclusively followed accounts for major brands or users known to produce fringe content while also “endlessly scrolling and refreshing” the feed until it found ads next to extremist posts.

The report misrepresented the typical experience of the user “with the intention of harming X and its business,” said X. Ads for IBM, Comcast and Oracle only appeared alongside hateful content for one viewer – Media Matters, the platform claimed.

“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,” said the companyin its lawsuit.

X has sought unspecified cash damages and to take down the report.

A ‘frivolous’ lawsuit

President of Media Matters, Angelo Carusone called the lawsuit “frivolous” in an emailed statement, as per Reuters, and said it was “meant to bully X’s critics into silence”. However, the media watchdog “stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court,” he added.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, on Monday (Nov 20) said that his office was opening an investigation into Media Matters and that he was “extremely troubled” by the allegations.

The report prompted high-profile companies, including Apple, Comcast, NBCUniversal and IBM to pause their advertising on Xlast week after it showed that their ads were displayed with pro-Nazi content.

Musk recently came under fire after he replied to an antisemiticpost on the platform saying, “You have said the actual truth.”

The post was seen as a reference to a longtime false conspiracy theory which claims that Jewish people have a secret plan to bring illegal immigrants into the US and move demographics away from a White majority.

US prez ‘quits’ X

Biden made his debut on Threads, on Monday (Nov 20). “Folks, it’s President Biden,” he saidin his first poston his 81st birthday. “You’re hearing from me today from a new platform but my message to you hasn't changed,” he added.

“I don’t see a dark, dismal, divided future for America. I see an America about to take off,” said the US president.

The White House later confirmed that they have also launched Threads accounts for First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, her husband Douglas Emhoff and the White House itself in English and Spanish.

“Threads is an additional way we can communicate with the American people about this administration's historic actions to create 14 million jobs, lower prescription drug costs, and protect freedoms and more,” said a White House official, adding that the launch had been in the works for several weeks.

(With inputs from agencies)