Elon Musk at The New York Times Dealbook conference in November 2023, when he criticized advertisers for boycotting his social media platform, X, after Media Matters and other groups reported on the rise of extremist content on the platform since his 2022 purchase.
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The New York Times
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Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The New York Times
Media Matters, the liberal watchdog organization that billionaire Elon Musk has sued in multiple lawsuits around the world, is going on the offensive.
The group on Monday sued Musk’s social media platform X for breach of contract over Musk bringing suits against the nonprofit in Texas, Ireland and Singapore in a legal maneuver Media Matters calls “a vendetta-driven campaign of libel tourism.”
Lawyers for the advocacy group are challenging Musk on technical grounds, arguing that since X’s terms of service at the time of the suits required the complaints to be filed in San Francisco, the actions violate Musk’s own policies, which were changed months after after the suits were brought.
Media Matters’ legal team says defending against Musk’s suits have crushed the organization, which monitors conservative media, costing millions of dollars and leading to the group laying off more than a dozen employees.
The suit seeks damages for breach of contract and an order forcing Musk to drop his litigation in Ireland and Singapore.
“X’s worldwide campaign of intimidation seeks to punish Media Matters for exercising its core First Amendment rights on a matter of public importance,” the lawsuit states. “This Court should stop X’s antics and enforce the forum selection clause that X itself drafted.”
Media Matters, X and Musk did not return requests for comment.
Media Matters report tied to advertiser boycott
The legal saga between Musk and Media Matters began after the group published reports in November 2023 documenting Musk’s endorsement of antisemitic conspiracy theories, along with X placing advertisements for brands including Oracle, Apple and Xfinity next to pro-Nazi content.
The report fueled an advertiser boycott of X, as major brands fled the platform in the months after Musk’s 2022 takeover of the site, known as Twitter until Musk renamed it in 2023.
Days after the report came out, Musk wrote on X that he was preparing “a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters.”
Lawyers for Musk filed a suit alleging Media Matters manipulated X’s algorithm to “manufacture” images of advertises’ paid posts next to extremist content.
Where Musk filed this lawsuit became something of a controversy, since it was in the northern district of Texas, where neither X nor Media Matters are located.
NPR uncovered that the federal judge presiding over the case, Reed O’Connor, is a Tesla investor who has come under criticism for accepting “forum shopping” complaints, or lawsuits filed outside of a jurisdiction in hopes of landing favorable treatment.
After allegations that Musk’s lawyers were forum shopping in Texas, he changed X’s rules so that all legal disputes are to be filed in the federal court for the Northern District of Texas, where O’Connor is based. X is based in the Austin area, which is covered by the federal court for Western District of Texas.
Musk files additional suits in Singapore and Ireland
Then came the two international lawsuits, first one filed in Ireland against Media Matters in December 2023, then one filed by X’s Singapore affiliate last July, claiming the nonprofit improperly manipulated the platform to produce misleading reports that prompted a steep drop in advertising. Both cases are still pending.
At the same time, a fourth legal battle could be brewing in the United Kingdom.
Twitter UK, a subsidiary of X, has sent Media Matters demand letters threatening defamation litigation over the same actions that led to the other lawsuits.
To Media Matters, the legal assault is an attempt to shift the blame over the X hemorrhaging advertising revenue.
The advertiser boycotts touched a nerve for Musk during a 2023 interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit, where Musk used the F-word to curse out companies that decided to step back from the platform, telling brands “don’t advertise.”
Yet Musk has also sued corporations for pulling back in advertising, a legal effort Musk expanded last month to include CVS, Lego, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Abbott Laboratories.
Since Musk has assumed a prominent post in the White House advising President Trump, some advertisers are feeling new pressure, according to Business Insider, which reported that advertising insiders view spending money on ads on X a type of “insurance policy” to avoid being sued, or become the subject of regulatory scrutiny in the Trump administration.
For Media Matters, defending against multiple lawsuits from Musk at once has sapped the group’s resources and chilled its research and reporting on Musk and his companies, the suit says.
According to the suit, in the ten months before the lawsuits started, Media Matters staffer Eric Hananoki authored 16 reports criticizing Musk and X over the proliferation of hateful and extremist content. Since the litigation, Hananoki has not written a single report on Musk.
