File photo: Twitter’s new X logo as explained by its owner, Elon Musk
Thursday’s US District Court for the Northern District of Texas judgment sets the timetable for a high-profile battle over Media Matters’ study on social media’s anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi content.
In November, X filed a lawsuit against Media Matters for misrepresenting the likelihood of hate speech on the platform.
CNN has asked X about Thursday’s order. Media Matters rejected the comment.
X’s complaint was dubbed “frivolous” and an attempt to suppress Musk’s critics by Media Matters President Angelo Carusone.
The lawsuit alleged that Media Matters’ testing methods did not reflect genuine site users’ experiences and that its reports inflated the likelihood of accessing extremist content.
The judge may rule on summary judgment motions in December, which may settle the dispute before trial.
Musk has experienced comparable problems. In March, a California federal court chastised X and dismissed its lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate. In a 52-page judgment, the judge called that lawsuit punitive rather than safeguarding the platform’s security and legal rights.
“Sometimes it is unclear what is driving litigation,” wrote US District Court for the Northern District of California District Judge Charles Breyer in the order’s opening. “Other times, a complaint is so unabashedly and vociferously about one thing that its purpose is clear.”
“This case represents the latter circumstance,” Breyer said. “This case is about punishing defendants for speech.”
Comment Template