Musk’s X sues Media Matters after report shows ads next to pro-Nazi posts

X, the Elon Musk-owned social media company formerly known as Twitter, sued Media Matters and its writer Eric Hananoki on Monday over what X called an “intentionally deceptive report” about antisemitism on the platform, according to a court filing. Media Matters, a nonprofit organization based in D.C., says it engages in “monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.”

Media Matters released a report by Hananoki on Thursday that included screenshots of mainstream advertisements appearing beside pro-Nazi content on X. Multiple businesses, including IBM, Apple and Disney, subsequently suspended their advertising on the platform.

The lawsuit by X — which claims interference with contract, business disparagement and interference with prospective economic advantage — said some of X’s largest advertisers were among the companies withdrawing their ads.

The lawsuit said that Media Matters manipulated the X algorithm by following only 30 accounts of controversial users and large companies, then undertaking “excessive” scrolling and refreshing.

In a post on X that was shared by Hananoki, Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said that the filing was “a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X’s critics into silence” and that Media Matters stood by the reporting.

Carusone told The Washington Post on Tuesday that Media Matters was “repeatedly pointing out the same dysfunction in X’s brand safety provisions.” He likened the lawsuit to someone “getting mad at a mirror because they don’t like the reflection.”

“It is a pretty blatant effort to intimidate us to stop what we do,” Carusone said.

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