Nandini Roy Choudhury, writer
Brief news
- Media Matters’ request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X has been denied by a federal magistrate in Texas.
- X’s lawsuit against Media Matters and two staff members will proceed to trial on April 7.
- The lawsuit was filed after Media Matters published a report linking abusive content on X’s platform to the suspension of advertising campaigns by companies like Apple, IBM, and Disney.
Detailed news
Media Matters’ request to discharge a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X has been denied by a federal magistrate in Texas.
X’s lawsuit against the nonprofit media watchdog and two of its staff members will proceed to trial on April 7 as a result of U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s decision on Thursday.
In November, X, which was previously known as Twitter, filed the complaint after Media Matters published a report demonstrating that abusive content on the platform was displayed alongside online advertisements from companies such as Apple, IBM, and Disney. The suit alleged that these companies subsequently suspended their X advertising campaigns.
The attorneys for X alleged that the Media Matters report was “intentionally deceptive” and had a financial impact on the company.
At the time, Angelo Carusone, President of Media Matters and one of the defendants, stated in a statement that the “frivolous lawsuit” was intended to “bully X’s critics into silence.”
O’Connor denied the nonprofit’s request to dismiss the case, asserting in a filing that the plaintiff “has properly pled its claims.”
Requests for comment were not promptly addressed by Media Matters and X.
In August, O’Connor denied Media Matters’ request to compel Musk to include Tesla as an interested party in X’s lawsuit against the nonprofit. “There is no evidence that Tesla has a direct financial interest in the outcome of this case,” O’Connor stated in a legal filing at the time.
Additionally, O’Connor was responsible for the supervision of a recent antitrust litigation that X filed against a global advertising association and its member companies, including Unilever, Mars, and CVS Health. After that, O’Connor withdrew from the lawsuit. Despite the absence of an explanation for the recusal, the judge’s most recent financial disclosure indicated that he is an investor in Unilever.
Source : CNBC News
