Elon Musk‘s X Corp is suing liberal media advocacy group Media Matters for allegedly manipulating the social media platform’s algorithms and fabricating posts to drive away advertisers.
A lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X Corp in a US federal court in Texas was quoted by the New York Times as saying: “Media Matters has manipulated the algorithms governing the user experience on X to bypass safeguards and create images of X’s largest advertisers’ paid posts adjacent to racist, incendiary content, leaving the false impression that these pairings are anything but what they actually are: manufactured, inorganic and extraordinarily rare,”
Linda Yaccarino also launched a veiled attack on Media Matters after a lawsuit was filed by X Corp. She wrote about X: “If you know me, you know I’m committed to truth and fairness. Here’s the truth. Not a single authentic user on X saw IBM’s, Comcast’s, or Oracle’s ads next to the content in Media Matters’ article. Only 2 users saw Apple’s ad next to the content, at least one of which was Media Matters. Data wins over manipulation or allegations. Don’t be manipulated. Stand with X”
Media Matters had reported last week that it had discovered corporate ads from IBM, Apple, Oracle and Comcast’s Xfinity appearing alongside anti-Semitic content.
Media Matters president Angelo Carusone said in a statement quoted by the Times, “This is a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X’s critics into silence… stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court.”
Elon Musk’s antisemitism controversy:
Musk had endorsed a post on X that inaccurately claimed that Jewish people were fuelling hostility towards white people. He expressed agreement with the user who cited the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, stating that the user was stating “the actual truth.”
Following Musk’s controversial post, many advertisers pulled their ads from the platform, including Disney, Apple, Comcast, IBM, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Paramount and Warner Bros. The move came at a time when Elon Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino were beginning to build a perception that advertisers had returned to the social media platform after leaving following the billionaire’s $44 billion acquisition of the company in October last year.
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Updated: 21 Nov 2023, 09:03 AM IST
