Social media company X on Monday sued media watchdog group Media Matters, alleging the organization defamed the platform after it published a report that said ads for major brands had appeared next to posts touting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.
X, formerly Twitter, has faced growing outrage since Media Matters published the report on Thursday, which led IBM, Comcast and several other other major advertisers to tug ads from the platform in response. The report also got here a day after X owner Elon Musk expressed agreement with a post on the platform that falsely claimed Jewish people stoked hatred against white people.
Within the lawsuit filed in a U.S. District Court in Texas, X claimed Media Matters “manipulated” the social media platform by utilizing accounts that exclusively followed major brands or users known to provide fringe content, and “resorted to endlessly scrolling and refreshing” the feed until it found ads next to extremist posts.
Media Matters’ report misrepresented the everyday experience on X “with the intention of harming X and its business,” the corporate said within the lawsuit.
Media Matters’ President Angelo Carusone called the lawsuit “frivolous” in an emailed statement and said it was “meant to bully X’s critics into silence.”
“Media Matters stands behind its reporting and appears forward to winning in court,” he added.
In an interview with Reuters earlier on Monday, Carusone said the nonprofit’s findings flew within the face of X’s statements that it had introduced safety protections to forestall ads from appearing next to harmful content.
“For those who seek for white nationalist content, there are ads flourishing. The system they are saying exists is just not operating as such,” he said.
Shareholders of Tesla, which Musk also runs, have raised concerns that Musk’s actions could harm the electrical automotive company’s business.
Latest York City Comptroller Brad Lander told Reuters on Tuesday that Tesla’s board of directors should sanction Musk if he doesn’t apologize for endorsing an antisemitic comment on X.
X said within the lawsuit on Monday that ads for IBM, Comcast and Oracle only appeared alongside hateful content for one viewer, which the corporate said was Media Matters.
“Data wins over manipulation or allegations. Do not be manipulated. Stand with X,” X Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino posted on Monday.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Monday his office was opening an investigation into Media Matters and that he was “extremely troubled” by allegations that the group manipulated data on X.
Since Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, a stream of advertisers have fled the platform, wary of a few of Musk’s controversial posts and layoffs of employees who worked to moderate content.
The platform’s U.S. ad revenue has declined not less than 55% year-over-year every month since Musk’s takeover, Reuters previously reported.
Yaccarino told employees in a note on Sunday that while some advertisers had paused their investments following the report’s publication, the corporate had been clear about its efforts to fight antisemitism and discrimination.
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
