A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed Elon Musk’s lawsuit against a nonprofit group that accused him of allowing hate speech to grow on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said it was “clear” that Musk’s X company sued the Center against Digital Hate (CCDH) because he didn’t like the center’s criticism and believed its research would harm image and scare away advertisers.
“X Corp brought this case to punish CCDH for its publications critical of X Corp, and perhaps to dissuade others who might wish to engage in such criticism,” Breyer wrote.
He added: “After reading the complaint, it is impossible not to conclude that X Corp is more concerned about CCDH’s rhetoric than its data collection methods.”
In a statement, X said it planned to appeal.
The decision is a blow to Musk, the world’s third richest man, who has for years viewed himself as a champion of free speech.
But since buying Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, he has faced widespread criticism for firing too many people who policed misinformation and has been criticized by civil rights groups for allowing more harmful and abusive posts.
Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center to Combat Digital Hate, said in a statement that Breyer’s decision affirms his organization’s right to “hold social media companies accountable for decisions they make privately.”
Roberta Kaplan, an attorney for the nonprofit, said the decision showed Musk “cannot go against his will.”
Musk and
Tesla, the electric carmaker run by Musk, has faced multiple separate lawsuits claiming it tolerates harassment of workers. It denied the claims.
Musk’s acquisitions were unpredictable
X accused the center of violating its 2019 user contract by scraping and cherry-picking data to create false and misleading reports, saying Musk turned X into a haven for hate speech, extremism and misinformation.
According to X’s complaint, filed last July, the nonprofit engineered a “scare campaign” to drive away advertisers and caused tens of millions of dollars in losses.
X argued that the nonprofit was bound by Musk’s policy changes and that it might leave Twitter if it didn’t like them.
Breyer agreed that X’s desire to quell criticism “makes perfect sense from a business perspective.”
But he said the nonprofit could not have foreseen when it signed with Twitter that Musk would eventually take over and loosen oversight of user content.
Breyer also dismissed X’s claims against the European Climate Foundation, a non-profit organization based in The Hague, Netherlands that promotes efforts to mitigate climate change.
X accuses it of conspiring with the Center to Counter Digital Hate to illegally collect data.
Nathaniel Bach, an attorney for ECF, said the nonprofit was grateful for the dismissal of Musk’s “frivolous” lawsuit.
Musk’s own comments often draw complaints.
In November 2023, Musk endorsed an anti-Semitic post on X, saying members of the Jewish community were inciting hatred against white people and saying the user was telling the “real truth.”
Musk has denied being an anti-Semitic and has tried to make amends, including a January visit to Auschwitz, the former Nazi death camp in southern Poland.
The case is X Corp v. Center for Countering Digital Hate Inc et al., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 23-03836.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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