Elon Musk’s X Files Lawsuit After Losing Top Advertisers Over Nazi Content

Reeling from the numerous blue-chip companies that have opted to suspend advertising on X, the Elon Musk–owned platform has lashed out by filing a lawsuit against the progressive media watchdog Media Matters. The flight of advertisers may have been partially triggered by a Media Matters report revealing how X, formerly known as Twitter, served ads from Oracle, IBM, and Apple next to content that praises Hitler and his Nazi Party. Of course, there was another reason why advertisers might have chosen to abandon X last week: Media Matters’ reporting came out the day after Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory claiming that Jewish communities propagate “hatred against Whites” and support “hordes of minorities” flooding Western countries. (Musk has since said the allegations of antisemitism leveled against him are “bogus.”)

In a complaint filed Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, X alleged that Media Matters “knowingly and maliciously manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers’ posts on X Corp.’s social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white-nationalist fringe content.” The lawsuit asks the court to issue an order forcing Media Matters to remove the report and accuses the nonprofit of business disparagement, interference with its contracts, and threatening its relationships with advertisers.

Amazingly, X did not appear to dispute the crux of the reporting from Media Matters investigator Eric Hananoki, the author of the report who was personally named as a codefendant in the suit. The complaint filed by X instead claimed that Hananoki portrayed the advertising and content pairings he uncovered “as if they were what typical X users experience on the platform.” But at no point in Hananoki’s reporting was that suggestion made.

X chief executive Linda Yaccarino’s explanation of the suit was similarly vacuous. She wrote, “Not a single authentic user on X saw IBM’s, Comcast’s, or Oracle’s ads next to the content in Media Matters’ article,” but failed to explain what makes a user “authentic” and why the account used by Hananoki doesn’t qualify. In the same post, Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal executive recruited by Musk to revive X’s spiraling reputation in the corporate world, even acknowledged that two users “saw Apple’s ad next to the content, at least one of which was Media Matters.” She did not say whether X deemed the other user “authentic.”

In a statement, Media Matters president Angelo Carusone called the lawsuit a “frivolous” attempt to “bully X’s critics into silence,” adding, “Media Matters stands behind its reporting and [looks] forward to winning in court.”

Media Matters has long been viewed by conservatives as a leading scourge, in part due to its pressure campaigns dissuading companies from advertising on Fox News. On Monday, Musk even described the watchdog as “pure evil.” That reputation is likely why Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, a right-wing crusader badgered by personal legal problems, has sought to capitalize on the X lawsuit by launching his own “fraud­u­lent activity” investigation into Media Matters. “We are examining the issue closely to ensure that the public has not been deceived by the schemes of radical left-wing organizations who would like nothing more than to limit freedom by reducing participation in the public square,” Paxton said in a Monday statement. (Vanity Fair has reached out to Media Matters for comment.) The move came one day after Missouri’s Republican attorney general announced that his office was “looking into” Musk’s allegations against Media Matters.