Elon Musk’s social media company.
Media Matters, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, called the lawsuit “frivolous.”
Advertisers They fled the site formerly known as Twitter over concerns about their ads appearing alongside pro-Nazi content – and hate speech on the site in general – while billionaire owner Musk has stoked tensions with his own posts endorsing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
IBM, NBCUniversal and parent company Comcast said last week they had stopped advertising on X after a Media Matters report said their ads were appearing alongside material praising Nazis. It was a new setback as a platform Trying to win back major brands And their advertising dollars, Company X’s main source of income.
The Media Matters report noted ads from Apple and Oracle that were also placed next to anti-Semitic material on X. On Friday, it said it also found ads from Amazon, NBA Mexico, NBCUniversal and others next to white nationalist hashtags.
But San Francisco-based Company
X’s complaint alleges that Media Matters manipulated algorithms on the platform to create images of advertisers’ paid posts next to racist and inflammatory content. The juxtapositions, according to the complaint, were “artificial, inorganic, and extremely rare.”
Media Matters says it did this by using X Accounts that tracked X users known for producing “extremist fringe content” and accounts owned by major In an attempt to drive away X advertisers.
Media Matters said Monday that it stands by its reports and its expectations that it will prevail in court.
“This is a frivolous lawsuit designed to silence critics of X,” Angelo Carosone, president of the nonprofit, said in a prepared statement.
Advertisers have been nervous about X since Musk acquired it more than a year ago.
Musk also sparked outrage this month with his own posts responding to a user who accused Jews of hating white people and declaring indifference to anti-Semitism. “I told 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 content on X has gained increased scrutiny since then. The war between Israel and Hamas seem.
“The company’s view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone has to stop across the board,” X CEO Linda Yaccarino said.
“I think this is something we can and should all agree on,” she wrote on stage last week.
