Texas attorney general announces investigation into Media Matters after Elon Musk files 'thermonuclear lawsuit'
The attorney general for the state of Texas announced an investigation into the left-wing activist site Media Matters after tech billionaire Elon Musk filed what he called a "thermonuclear lawsuit" against the organization.
Media Matters sought to pressure advertisers to abandon the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, based on their report claiming that their advertisements would appear next to "white nationalist hashtags."
Musk vehemently denied the report and accused the organization of completely misrepresenting the "real user experience" on the website to deceive advertisers. Several companies announced that they would end their advertising campaigns on the platform, including IBM, Apple, Disney, Lionsgate, and Paramount.
On Monday, Musk filed his lawsuit, and Paxton announced his investigation very soon afterward.
"Today I opened an investigation into Media Matters for potential fraudulent activity after X CEO Elon Musk accused the left-wing media watchdog group of manipulating data on the social media platform," said Paxton in a statement on social media.
"We are examining the issue closely to ensure that the public has not been deceived by the schemes of radical left-wing organizations who would like nothing more than to limit freedom by reducing participation in the public square," he added.
Media Matters previously released a statement about the threat of litigation from Musk.
“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,” said Angelo Carusone, president of MMFA. “Musk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified. If he does sue us, we will win.”
Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey also said that his legal team was looking into the accusations against Media Matters on Sunday.
Musk appeared eager to battle with the liberal organization, adding, "The discovery and depositions will be glorious to behold."
Here's more about the Musk vs Media Matters feud:
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Womp, womp! Massive layoffs hit Media Matters after Elon Musk lawsuit
Media Matters has solely existed to be a watchdog against the right for years, often seeking to ruin the lives of conservatives via cancel culture.
Now, the media company is having massive layoffs after Elon Musk brought it to court in November — and Lauren Chen is not above celebrating.
“They are a leftist watchdog organization that basically just exists to smear right-wing figures. And to be clear, the problem here is not that Media Matters advances, like, leftist talking points kind of, like, the Young Turks. No, Media Matters is really in a totally separate category,” Chen says.
“It seems like all they do is sit around consuming right-wing content, looking for sound bites or unflattering quotes to take out of context in the hopes of canceling right-wing figures,” she continues, adding, “and I therefore hate them.”
Last year, Media Matters messed up when it attempted to smear the wrong person and ended up getting sued by Musk. Media Matters was accused of manufacturing a report to show advertisers’ posts alongside neo-Nazi and white nationalist posts in order to “drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X corp.”
“They were essentially trying to play the algorithm to get really unflattering screenshots for X, even though for the average user this is not at all what would appear if you were using the platform,” Chen explains.
The media company has just now been forced to fire at least a dozen staffers.
“We’re confronting a legal assault on multiple fronts, and given how rapidly the media landscape is shifting, we need to be extremely intentional about how we allocate resources in order to stay effective,” the president of Media Matters, Angelo Carusone, said in a statement.
“For right-wing content creators like myself, that means there’s going to be fewer people out there looking to basically quote mine you in the hopes of destroying your career,” Chen says happily.
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