After a number of big advertisers said they were stop spending on X over owner Elon Musk’s support of an anti-Semitic conspiracy theoryThe tech mogul said he plans to file a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against a research group that had claimed to find ads in x/Twitter competing against pro-Nazi and white nationalist positions.
On Friday, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Comcast/NBCUniversal, Lionsgate and Paramount Global paused their ads on IBM said it would pause ad spending a day early. Apple is also suspending advertising spending on X, according to a report from Axios.
Several of X’s advertisers cited Musk’s endorsement earlier this week of a conspiracy theory that Jews “promote anti-white hatred.” But in his late-night legal threat, Musk took aim at the watchdog group Media Matters for what was allegedly a rigged investigation into advertising on the platform.
“Split Second Court Opens Monday, X Corp to File Thermonuclear Lawsuit Against Media Matters and ALL Those Who Colluded in This Fraudulent Attack on Our Company,” Musk aware on the 10th Friday night. He added that the legal action will go after “his board of directors, his donors, his dark money network, all of them…”
According to a document released by Musk, to “manipulate the public and advertisers,” Media Matters created an alternative account and selected posts and advertising that appear on the account’s timeline to “misinform advertisers about the location of their publications”. These artificial experiences could be applied to any platform.” (Read the full document below.)
Media Matters representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday, Media Matters published an investigation that found that five major brands (Apple, IBM, NBCUniversal’s Bravo, Oracle, and Comcast’s Xfinity) ran their ads next to posts that “promote Hitler and his Nazi party” on X. Then, On Friday, Media Matters published a report stating that it found ads from Amazon, NBA Mexico, NBCUniversal Catalyst, Action Network and Club for Growth alongside white nationalist hashtags such as “KeepEuropeWhite”, “white Pride” and “WLM” (“White Lives Matter”).
Friday’s exodus of advertisers came after the White House earlier in the day condemned Musk for promoting “anti-Semitic and racist hate.” This came after Musk agreed on Wednesday with an people stop using it against them.” In the now-deleted post, the
Here is the text of the document that Musk published on the topic related to Media Matters:
Support X to protect freedom of expression
This week, Media Matters for America published a story that completely misrepresented the actual user experience on X, in another attempt to undermine free speech and mislead advertisers.
Above all else, including profits, X works to protect the public’s right to free speech. But for expression to be truly free, we must also have the freedom to see or hear things that some people may find objectionable. We believe that everyone has the right to make their own decisions about what to read, watch or listen to, because that is the power of freedom of expression.
Despite our clear and consistent position, ideology and that of its finances. supporters. These groups attempt to use their influence to attack our revenue streams by misleading advertisers on X.
Here is the data on the Media Matters investigation:
- To manipulate the public and advertisers, Media Matters created an alternative account and curated the posts and advertising that appear on the account’s timeline to misinform advertisers about the placement of their posts. These artificial experiences could be applied to any platform.
- Once they selected their feed, they repeatedly refreshed their timelines to find a rare case of ads running alongside the content they chose to follow. Our records indicate that they forced a scenario that resulted in 13 times the number of ads served compared to the median number of ads served to user X.
- Of the 5.5 billion ad impressions that day, fewer than 50 total ad impressions served across all organic content featured in the Media Matters article.
- For a brand featured in the article, one of their ads ran next to a post 2 times and that ad was seen in that setting by only two users, one of whom was the author of the Media Matters article.
- For another brand featured in the article, two of their ads ran next to 2 posts, 3 times, and that ad was only seen in that setting by one user, the author of the Media Matters article.
- The Media Matters article also highlights nine posts that they believe should not be allowed on Expression. Falling short of law enforcement approach.
Here is a summary of all this:
- X will protect the public’s right to free expression. We will not allow agenda-driven activists, or even our own profits, to impede our vision.
- Everyone has a choice in X. The control of users and brands in X is greater than it was a year ago.
- Data wins over accusations. Media Matters does not reflect the user experience on X.
As we have seen in some parts of the world, when freedom of expression is taken away, it is very dangerous and difficult to regain it; That’s why the people before us fought so hard to protect it. Without free speech we lose the checks and balances critical to a thriving democracy. We must defend our individual rights as if our lives and flourishing society depend on it.
If you are truly interested in protecting free speech, then we should all protect it fully.
Support the X to protect freedom of speech.
