Elon Musk’s social media company Corp.
Media Matters, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit, called the lawsuit “frivolous”.
Advertisers are fleeing the site, formerly known as Twitter, because they are finding their ads appearing next to pro-Nazi content — and hate speech on the site in general — while the billionaire owner Musk has escalated tensions with his own posts supporting the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
IBM, NBCUniversal and its parent company Comcast said last week they had stopped advertising on X after a Media Matters report said their ads were appearing alongside content praising Nazis. It was a fresh blow as the platform tries to win back big brands and their advertising dollars, X’s main source of revenue.
The Media Matters report pointed to advertisements for Apple and Oracle that were placed next to anti-Semitic material on X. On Friday, she said she also found ads from Amazon, NBA Mexico, NBCUniversal and others next to white nationalist hashtags.
But San Francisco-based Have experience.”
Ax’s complaint claims that Media Matters manipulated algorithms on the platform to create images of advertisers’ paid posts next to racist, inflammatory content. According to the complaint, the comparisons were “manufactured, inorganic and exceptionally rare.”
It said Media Matters did this by using The complaint states that this led to a feed being created for the purpose of creating side-by-side placements that the media could screenshot in an effort to alienate Matters X’s advertisers.
Media Matters said Monday that it stands by its reporting and expects to prevail in court.
“This is a frivolous lawsuit whose purpose is to intimidate X’s critics into silence,” Angelo Carusone, president of the nonprofit organization, said in a prepared statement.
Advertisers have been skimping on X since Musk’s acquisition more than a year ago.
Musk has also sparked outrage with his own posts this month, responding to a user who accused Jews of hating white people and indifference to anti-Semitism. “You have spoken the truth.” Musk tweeted in response last Wednesday.
Musk has faced accusations of tolerating anti-Semitic messages on the platform since purchasing it last year, and there has been increased scrutiny of content on X since the war between Israel and Hamas began.
X CEO Linda Yarcarino stated that the company’s “approach has always been clear that discrimination across the board should be stopped by all.”
“I think this is something we should all agree on,” she wrote on the forum last week.
Barbara Ortute, The Associated Press
Source: ca.finance.yahoo.com
