Twitter/X sues Media Matters after advertisers leave
X, formerly Twitter, has sued Media Matters. That organization recently released a report stating that the platform placed advertisements from major companies next to “pro-Nazi content.” Several advertisers subsequently withdrew from the platform.
X has sued American media watchdog Media Matters for that loss of advertisers. According to the social media platform, the nonprofit is legally liable for that financial loss. The suit was recently filed with a court in Texas.
The indictment follows a Media Matters report which was published last Thursday. The organization reported, among other things, that the platform placed advertisements from large companies next to content praising Adolf Hitler and the Nsdap. Media Matters showed several examples of this. Various advertisers, including Apple, Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast, subsequently withdrew from the platform. X CEO Linda Yaccarino and owner Elon Musk previously called the findings “not representative” of the overall user experience on wrote tech website The Verge on Monday.
The platform says in its complaint that Media Matters “knowingly” “fabricated” images of advertisers on According to the social media company, the organization presented these images “as if they were what typical X users experience on the platform.” “Media Matters designed both these images and the resulting media strategy to drive advertisers off the platform and destroy X,” the platform said.
“Media Matters has manipulated the algorithms that govern the user experience on are: manufactured, inorganic and exceedingly rare,” the complaint reads.
Media Matters chairman Angelo Carusone said earlier in a statement to The Verge that the organization continues its work. “Elon Musk has spent the past few days making baseless legal threats, spreading outlandish conspiracy theories, and launching vicious personal attacks against his enemies online.” The nonprofit stands behind its reporting and “looks forward to winning in court,” Carusone added.