(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Elon Musk, owner of Twitter (now X), released a scathing response to Media Matters for America, a far-left media watchdog group, following their allegations about Twitter’s advertising placements.
Musk hinted at an imminent legal battle against the organization, describing it as a “thermonuclear lawsuit” in a Saturday tweet.
“The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company,” Musk said. “Their board, their donors, their network of dark money, all of them.”
The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company pic.twitter.com/55vl7PspaQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2023
Musk’s ire was ignited by a Media Matters report asserting that major companies’ ads appeared alongside alleged white supremacist posts on Twitter.
Media Matters claimed on Nov. 16 that Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity ran ads near “pro-Nazi content,” prompting Apple and IBM to suspend their advertising on Twitter. Musk vehemently contested Media Matters’ assertions.
“This week Media Matters for America posted a story that completely misrepresented the real experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers,” a lengthy statement published by Musk said.
“Media Matters created an alternate account and curated the posts and advertising appearing on the account’s timeline to misinform advertisers about the placement of their posts,” the statement added.
New: IBM released a statement to the Financial Times saying that it has “suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation.” https://t.co/hFDa48zEFS
— Media Matters (@mmfa) November 16, 2023
Labeling Media Matters as “pure evil,” Musk condemned the organization’s tactics, known for its bias against conservative reporters, outlets and commentators.
Responding to Musk’s threat, Media Matters President Angelo Carusone portrayed Musk as a bully attempting to stifle “accurate” reporting.
“Far from the free speech advocate he claims to be, Musk is a bully who threatens meritless lawsuits in an attempt to silence reporting that he even confirmed is accurate,” Carusone declared on Sunday. “Musk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified. If he does sue us, we will win.”
Despite the confrontation, Media Matters doubled down with another report, accusing Twitter of showcasing ads from Amazon, NBA Mexico, NBCUniversal Catalyst, Action Network, and Club for Growth adjacent to “white nationalist hashtags” like “KeepEuropeWhite,” “white pride,” and “WLM” (“White Lives Matter”).
New: X is placing ads for Amazon, NBA Mexico, NBCUniversal, and others next to content with white nationalist hashtags https://t.co/6DrwxdZZWJ
— Media Matters (@mmfa) November 17, 2023
Media Matter’s reports against Twitter were subjected to backlash and humor from conservative pundits and Twitter influencers.
Media Matters just released this 👀☠️pic.twitter.com/YerwzxlW1J
— Damon Imani (@damonimani) November 19, 2023
🚨 @TheBabylonBee & @Timcast have pledged $250,000 each towards 𝕏 ads in the wake of advertisers pausing on the platform due to an extremely misleading hit piece by Media Matters. pic.twitter.com/HbwwEmsn31
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 19, 2023
The vile, disgusting, dishonest Media Matters is trying to take down X & @elonmusk. They cannot STAND the existence of even one platform that the hard left does not control. It’s important that X survive. Don’t fall for the MM hit job. https://t.co/6wxquwEcJj
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) November 18, 2023
NEW: An X executive discloses that the content highlighted in Media Matters’ article constituted a mere 50 out of 5,500,000,000 ad impressions served throughout the entire day.
In reality, virtually no authentic users encountered these ads juxtaposed with the mentioned… pic.twitter.com/filPcZsVUb
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) November 18, 2023
Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Media Matters is a game changer. Media Matters came after me to get me removed from YouTube because I was exposing the rigged 2020 election. Funny enough, YouTube recently reversed its policy on elections and now allows videos that question elections.… pic.twitter.com/KnfYehNf2n
— George (@BehizyTweets) November 18, 2023
