A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s Since then, hate speech has increased on the site.

X (formerly Twitter) argued that the center’s researchers violated the site’s terms of service by improperly editing public tweets, and that the center’s subsequent reports on a rise in hate speech cost advertisers hundreds when they fled Ten thousand U.S. dollars.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer dismissed the lawsuit, writing in an order that it “unabashedly and vigorously promoted one thing” — speech that punished the nonprofit.

X claims the nonprofit “scraped” data from its website, violating its terms of service. But the judge found that X failed to “claim losses based on technical harm”—that is, the company failed to show how the scraping caused X financial losses.

X is seeking millions of dollars in damages, claiming the nonprofit’s reporting resulted in lost advertisers and advertising revenue.

But the judge agreed with CCDH’s argument that X could not seek damages for the independent conduct of a third party based on CCDH’s report or its “speech.”

The center is a non-profit organization with offices in the United States and the United Kingdom. It regularly publishes reports on hate speech, extremism or harmful behavior on social media platforms such as X, TikTok or Facebook. The group has published several reports critical of Musk’s leadership, detailing a rise in anti-LGBTQ hate speech and climate misinformation since his acquisition.

In a statement released to X, the social media platform said it “disagrees with the court’s decision and plans to appeal.”

Imran Ahmed, the center’s founder and CEO, said the lawsuit amounted to a “hypocritical campaign of harassment” by a billionaire who discussed Protects free speech but then uses his wealth to try to silence critics. He said the lawsuit demonstrates the need for a federal law requiring tech companies to release more information about their operations so the public can understand how these powerful platforms shape society.

Ahmed said: “We hope this landmark ruling will encourage public interest researchers everywhere to continue and even intensify their important work to hold social media companies accountable for the hate and disinformation they spread and the harm they cause. .”

Roberta Kaplan, an attorney for the center, said the dismissal of X’s lawsuit showed that “even the wealthiest man cannot bend the rule of law to his will.”

“We live in an era of bullying, and social media has given them the power they have today,” Kaplan said in an email to reporters. “It takes a lot of courage to stand up to these bullies; it takes a group like Counter Digital Hate Center for organizations like this. We are proud and honored to represent CCDH.”

The center isn’t the only group to point to an increase in hateful content on X since Musk’s acquisition in October 2022. In November, several large advertisers, including IBM, NBCUniversal and its parent Comcast, said they were halting advertising on X. The liberal advocacy group Media Matters reported that their ads appeared alongside material praising Nazis. This is yet another setback as X tries to win back big brands and their advertising revenue (X’s main source of revenue). X also sued Media Matters.

Later that month, Musk cursed at advertisers who had stopped spending on X because of anti-Semitism and other hateful material, saying they were engaging in “blackmail” and using profanity to essentially tell them to go away. .