After a California judge dismissed Elon Musk's lawsuit against Center for Countering Digital Hate or CCDH, the tech billionaire is now supporting the Missouri attorney general's legal action against Media Matters.
What Happened: On Monday, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey took to X, formerly Twitter, and announced that he would file a lawsuit against Media Matters "to force them to turn over documents regarding their solicitation of donations to bully advertisements into pulling out of X."
Bailey called X the "last platform dedicated to free speech in America."
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In a series of posts, the attorney general explained that they launched an investigation in November after evidence was found that Media Matters, a non-profit organization and media watchdog group, "solicited donations from Missourians under false pretense to target X."
He said this action directly violates the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.
Bailey also accused Media Matters of having a "sordid history" of declining to cooperate with investigations.
Musk commented on Bailey's post and appreciated his actions, saying, "Media Matters is doing everything possible to undermine the First Amendment. It is truly an evil organization."
Why It's Important: Last year in November, Musk threatened Media Matters with a "thermonuclear lawsuit," alleging that the watchdog's report about advertisements from Apple Inc., IBM Corp., and Oracle Corp. appeared next to antisemitic posts on X.
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Post Media Matters' revelation, several major companies including IBM, Apple and Walt Disney Co., decided to pull ads from X thus costing the social media platform which Musk acquired for $44 billion dearly in ad revenue. X Corp later filed a lawsuit against Media Matters.
Prior to Media Matters, Musk had filed a lawsuit against CCDH for perpetuating “false or misleading assertions” and discouraging advertisers from running ads on the platform. Judge Charles Breyer dismissed this suit on Monday.
In the ruling, Judge Breyer wrote, "This case is about punishing the defendants for their speech."
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