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“Free Speech Absolutist” Elon Musk Sues Media Maters to Shut Them Up

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An angry looking twitter bird logoAnother day, another lawsuit that looks almost like a SLAPP suit from Elon Musk. Don’t worry, Musk has nothing to worry about, this lawsuit is taking place in Texas, a state where neither company is headquartered. Perhaps that’s because Texas doesn’t have laws against SLAPP suits, like California does.

What villainous non-profit pursuing a safer internet and fewer hate crimes did he go after this time? Media Matters. Media Matters showed screenshots of ads from major companies including Apple and Disney next to far-right hate speech on Twitter. The screenshots were real. The tweets were real. Twitter confirmed their authenticity.

The post came out around the same time Elon Musk agreed with someone’s explanation on why they believe “Hitler was right.” Yeah, you read that right. That was the last straw for companies who left Twitter behind. The Media Matters report might have also been a consideration as well, but at least one company specifically mentioned Musk’s antisemitic tweet. Musk wants to go after Media Matters anyway, pretending his tweet wasn’t the main issue for at least one advertiser.

Musk seems to be completely ignoring the role his tweet played in companies abandoning Twitter, instead placing the blame on Media Matters for gaming Twitter to make the offending ad placement more likely. He asserts that Media Matters used the wealth of Nazi propaganda on Twitter to game their feed and see what ads show up next to that content to write a story. Of course, those ads should likely never show up next to that content anyway, as most companies have agreements forbidding that kind of content next to their ads, but Musk isn’t treating that as the problem. Instead, he’s going after the messenger.

Again.

For a “free speech absolutist,” Musk seems to dislike free speech.

Media Matters Reports on Twitter Hate

Last week, Media Matters reported that ads for companies were showing up next to hate speech. This happened despite Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino’s claims that brands are “protected from the risk of being next to” such content. That was what Media Matters wanted to test, that claim. Often companies have deals with ad brokers to specifically never show their ads next to content that could be considered hateful or pornographic. Some items slip through, but it’s more common when a site is rife with hate speech issues. Issues like paid accounts spreading hate speech (warning: hate speech… and ads).

After Media Matters had prepared their piece, Musk had agreed with a Nazi sympathizer stating why he believed “Hitler did nothing wrong.” News of Musk’s tweet spread like wildfire. Soon, it was like watching a Jenga tower collapse. Advertisers like IBM, Apple, Disney, Lionsgate, NBC, Warner, and many others dropped ads on Twitter. Maybe it was because Media Matters proved their ads could show up next to hate speech. Maybe it was because of the hate speech Elon Musk promoted on his platform. Either way, they couldn’t be a part of funding Twitter for the time being.

Rather than blaming his own actions or the hate speech that is littering Twitter, Musk went after the messenger. Again.

… And Musk Sues Instead of Getting Rid of the Hate

The lawsuit seems to be based around the idea that Media Matters “knowingly and maliciously manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers’ posts on X Corp.’ social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white-nationalist fringe content.” The content was, of course, on the platform. The screenshots are valid. Twitter actually confirmed this. Instead, the lawsuit seems to claim Media Matters has portrayed these as something “typical X [Twitter] users experience on the platform.” Though Media Matters never used that exact language, and did not suggest that seeing that hateful content or those ads with it was common, only that “his social media platform [Twitter] has been placing ads for major brands like Apple, Bravo (NBCUniversal), IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity (Comcast) next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.” Their screenshots and Twitter’s response confirmed this was a true statement.

Media Matter’s “offending” post is here. It’s quite short. You can judge for yourself. Is the issue that Media Matters could find plenty of offending content to curate a feed full of it? Or is the issue is that the hateful content is on the platform at all? Perhaps the problem is that these companies don’t care if the content is on the platform, they just expect Twitter not to show their ads next to that content. But perhaps Musk is right. Maybe the real problem isn’t the content, or that Twitter’s algorithm will suggest it, or that they’ll still show ads for Apple and Disney next to it if you try hard enough. No, according to Musk, the only real issue is that Media Maters reported on it as a typical experience (without ever stating that it was a typical experience).

“The lawsuit says that these accounts were ‘known to produce extreme, fringe content,’ yet they were not demonetized until after Media Matters pointed them out. So X knew they were extreme, but did not demonetize them — that is what the lawsuit expressly states.”

– Devin Coldewey, TechCrunch

Media Matters didn’t document the steps they took to take the screenshots, which were steps made to make the chances of something that should never happen more likely. I’ll admit, as a journalist and engineer, I hate it when people don’t document their process to prove their results. I would have liked to see that, even if it made their article longer. Media Matters followed far-right accounts and tech accounts, like a far-right nerd might do, in order to cause ads from both tech companies and tweets promoting hate to show up together. The ads shouldn’t have shown up to hateful content if Twitter really did recognize it as “fringe” content, but the tweets were monetized anyway. Twitter has tried to claim this was a manufactured experience, but other Twitter users were quick to share hateful search terms like “killjews” and “HeilHitler” showing ads. Clearly this is an issue that real users could see on the network.

“Elon’s Tweet”

Of course, the real problem could be that things like this should never happen. Ads should never show next to such hateful content. However, it’s hardly the most pressing issue for some of these companies. They care more about what Musk is doing with his own account, the kind of things he’s promoting, what he’s turning Twitter into. Lionsgate even specifically stated “Elon’s tweet” as the reason for pulling their ads, despite showing up in Twitter’s lawsuit against Media Matters. Lionsgate explicitly gave their reasoning for leaving, it isn’t the one Twitter claimed in this lawsuit.

“As Musk endorses antisemitic conspiracy theory, X has been placing ads for Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity next to pro-Nazi content”

– The title of the Media Matters Article

While Musk cites the title of the offending article in his lawsuit, he does not take issue with the fact that they also pointed out that he agreed with an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

It’ll be up to a jury to decide, if Musk doesn’t drop the suit or settle, as he’s requesting a trial by jury.

See You Next Time!

I doubt this will be the last lawsuit Musk uses to try to shut up anyone who talks about the wealth of hate speech on Twitter. Maybe he learned to avoid states with laws against SLAPP suits, but he’ll likely continue to try to silence anyone raising concerns about his platform, rather than address those concerns. It’s the season for a Grinch’s heart to grow, but such revelation is so rare in the real world. When the biggest concern for many is that Elon Musk is spreading hate himself, perhaps he’ll never see hate on the platform as the real problem.

 

Side note: In the list of companies that “threatened X’s [Twitter’s] relationships with massive multinational advertisers,” Musk listed FanDuel twice.

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