Musk Sues Media Matters Over Hate-Adjacent Ads on X

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Facts

  • Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) sued Media Matters for America (MMFA) on Monday, after the liberal advocacy group claimed that X had displayed ads for major corporations next to neo-Nazi and white nationalist content.1
  • MMFA's report, published last Friday, alleged that companies including Apple, Amazon, IBM, and Oracle had their adverts displayed next to hashtags and search results that promoted far-right ideologies. The report added: 'Musk has opened the floodgates to hateful content by reversing bans on anti-Muslim bigots, white nationalists, and antisemites.'2
  • The report allegedly prompted an exodus of advertisers from X. According to the company's lawsuit, firms not mentioned in the article also pulled their ads, including Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Sony.3
  • Furthermore, X claims that MMFA 'manipulated' the social media platform by using an account that exclusively followed major brands and users known to produce fringe content, 'endlessly' refreshing the feed until ads were displayed next to extremist posts.4
  • In response, Angelo Carusone, MMFA's president and CEO, said: 'This is a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X's critics into silence. Media Matters stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court.'5
  • Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said his office was opening a probe into MMFA over 'potential fraudulent activity,' adding the issue will be closely examined 'to ensure that the public has not been deceived by the schemes of radical left-wing organizations.'6

Sources: 1CBS, 2Media Matters for America, 3TechCrunch, 4The Guardian, 5Courthouse News Service and 6FOX News.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Media Matters for America. Not only has Elon Musk himself promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories in recent days, but it's unquestionable that the number of hateful posts has risen on X — particularly as Musk reversed numerous bans on firms and users that typically produce provocative content. Advertisers are within their rights to pull their money from X.
  • Narrative B, as provided by New York Post. This report was produced by manipulating the typical experience of users on X, creating a false impression that adverts are routinely placed next to hateful content. The platform has been working extremely hard on its content moderation policies, and the data that X will provide at the lawsuit will prove MMFA's claims wrong.

Predictions