Elon Musk announced X will file a “thermonuclear lawsuit” on Monday against Media Matters for America after one of its reports prompted multiple corporations to pull their advertising from the billionaire’s rebranded social-media platform.
Musk, who owns X, took issue with the liberal media watchdog’s story that claimed ads from top corporate brands were running “alongside white nationalist and pro-Nazi content.” An official statement from X stated Media Matters “completely misrepresented the real user experience on X,” leading to IBM, Apple, Disney, Lionsgate Entertainment, and others boycotting the platform.
“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,” Musk posted early Saturday morning on X.
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 pic.twitter.com/55vl7PspaQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2023
“Their board, their donors, their network of dark money, all of them,” he added in a comment under the original tweet.
In recent days, Musk has gotten flak for seemingly promoting an antisemitic post that alleged “Jewish communities have been pushing . . . dialectical hatred against whites,” to which the tech mogul replied: “You have said the actual truth.” In another comment, Musk clarified he was referring to the Anti-Defamation League rather than speaking about all Jews.
Following the backlash, Musk said Friday that anyone who advocates for genocide will be removed from X. “As I said earlier this week, ‘decolonization’, ‘from the river to the sea’ and similar euphemisms necessarily imply genocide,” he posted. “Clear calls for extreme violence are against our terms of service and will result in suspension.”
The Saturday statement from X provided rebuttals to Media Matters’ research, arguing the organization “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.” X also said it has “taken action” on one of the nine organic posts that Media Matters cited as promoting antisemitism after the post was found to be in violation of its content policies.
The social-media company reaffirmed its commitment to freedom of speech and accused the watchdog of intentionally misleading the public and advertisers this week.
“Above everything, including profit, X works to protect the public’s right to free speech,” the statement read. “But for speech to be truly free, we must also have the freedom to see or hear things that some people may consider objectionable. We believe that everyone has the right to make up their own minds about what to read, watch, or listen to — because that’s the power of freedom of speech.”
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, indicated she is fully on board with filing the lawsuit come Monday. “Protecting the freedom of speech could not be more urgent and important,” she said. “Now, more than ever!”