A federal judge in California on Monday dismissed X's lawsuit against a nonprofit that researches online hate speech, and the social media company's lawsuit over free speech research on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. The court ruled that the purpose was to punish a person.
X comes after the Center to Combat Digital Hate published several articles claiming that researchers had found an increase in hate speech on the platform after Elon Musk's takeover. The suit was filed in July in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. X said the group's research was scaring advertisers and hurting its business, costing it millions of dollars.
However, the court ruled that X's lawsuit was an attempt to punish the group for speaking negatively about the company, and that X's activities were protected by law.
In Monday's ruling, Judge Charles R. Breyer wrote, “In some cases, it is unclear what is provoking the lawsuit, and only by reading between the lines of the complaint can we deduce the plaintiff's true purpose.” said. “In other cases, complaints are so unashamedly and vocally about one thing that it's hard to mistake their purpose.'' ” he added.
The ruling is a blow to Musk, who has used legal threats to fight critics of his social media platforms. In November, he sued the advocacy group Media Matters for America after it released a report that found ads for X were appearing alongside neo-Nazi posts.
“We are creating a cost of lies and hate,” said Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center to Counter Digital Hate. “Today's courts must investigate, speak out, and defend the decisions social media companies make behind closed doors that affect our children, our democracy, and our fundamental human rights and civil liberties.” and affirmed our fundamental right to be held accountable.”
X said in a statement that it plans to appeal the decision and will continue to pursue legal action against the organization for “illegally obtaining platform data to create misleading research.” Ta.
The case is one of many legal battles currently involving Mr. Musk and Mr. is suing. Former Twitter executives are also suing the company, accusing Musk of unfairly withholding their retirement benefits.
Musk is also suing OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research institute he co-founded, for violating its principles. (The New York Times is also suing OpenAI and his Microsoft for misusing copyrighted material.)