A federal judge in California has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X against the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate. The judge stated in a ruling on Monday that the lawsuit was aimed at punishing the defendants for their speech. X had sued the research group in July, accusing them of conducting a “scare campaign” to push away advertisers. The company also claimed that CCDH accessed platform data improperly and chose posts selectively to make false claims about X’s content.
The lawsuit came after CCDH published studies showing an increase in antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate speech on X following Musk’s acquisition of the platform in late 2022. Judge Charles Breyer of the Northern District of California wrote in his ruling that X’s claims about breach of contract and data scraping were really about speech.
CCDH researchers found that Twitter failed to act on the majority of hate speech posted by premium Twitter Blue accounts, including anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate speech. The judge referred to California’s anti-SLAPP statute, stating that the lawsuit was an attempt by X to punish CCDH for criticizing them.
CCDH responded to the ruling, stating it sends a message about censoring critics of social media companies. X plans to appeal the decision. Musk is involved in similar cases against other groups, including suing Bright Data for data scraping and Media Matters for America for a critical report they published.
A federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X against the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate, finding that the case was about punishing the Defendants for their speech rather than breach of contract or data scraping. The lawsuit stemmed from research conducted by CCDH, which found an increase in hate speech on X after Musk took over the company. The judge cited California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which protects speech on matters of public concern, in his ruling. X has stated that they plan to appeal the decision and Musk is pursuing similar cases against other groups.
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