X, the social media platform founded by Elon Musk, has launched a lawsuit against a left-leaning pressure group that alleged the platform permitted antisemitic posts to appear alongside its advertisements.
X's lawsuit states that Media Matters for America allegedly altered data in order to hurt the former Twitter platform.
Apple, Disney, IBM, and Comcast are among the companies to have halted their advertising on X following the watchdog's evaluation.
After Mr Musk's lawsuit threat, Media Matters labeled him a bully.
The advocacy group declared last week that advertisements were visible on X alongside posts expressing Nazi approval, including Hitler quotations and rejecting the Holocaust.
Recently, Mr Musk was criticized for perpetuating an antisemitic stereotype on the platform.
On Monday, a lawsuit filed in Texas asserts that Media Matters "intentionally and malevolently created collages of images juxtaposing advertisers' posts on X Corp's social media platform adjacent to Neo-Nazi and white-supremacist extremist content in order to give an inaccurate illustration of what users experience on the platform."
Media Matters created the two images and their associated media strategy with the goal of convincing advertisers to withdraw from X Corp and ultimately destroying it.
In the lawsuit, X claimed that advertisements from Comcast, Oracle, and IBM were only presented to viewers while they were viewing content from Media Matters that was considered by X to be hateful.
On Monday, Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, claimed that none of IBM's, Comcast's, or Oracle's ads were visible to genuine users when viewing Media Matters' article.
As a result of the accusations made by Media Matters, the European Commission, Warner Bros Discovery, Paramount and Lionsgate have discontinued their advertisement spending on X.
On Saturday, Mr Musk declared his intention to initiate a "thermonuclear" legal action against Media Matters and anyone "who participated in this counterfeit offensive against our organization".
Angelo Carusone, President of Media Matters, commented that they would be triumphant in any legal case.
Mr Carusone declared that Musk is in fact not an advocate of free speech as he claims, instead being an intimidator who tries to prohibit coverage he confirmed to be factual by means of baseless legal action.
Media Matters was established in 2004 and is noted for its critiques of conservative commentators and media outlets.
This non-profit organization proclaims itself to be a research and information center that researches and evaluates conservative misinformation that is disseminated in the United States media, with the intent to provide accurate and corrective information.
Last Wednesday, Mr Musk was harshly criticized after responding to an article alleging that Jewish communities are instigating bigotry towards white people, describing it as "actual truth".
The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur subsequently refuted allegations of antisemitism, claiming his comments were not aimed at all Jewish people, but rather at organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League - a Jewish-led watchguard against bigotry.
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Observe: In August, following complaints, X removed a flashing sign.
Ken Paxton, Republican Attorney General of Texas, declared Monday he had launched an inquiry into Media Matters for any fraudulent conduct regarding its claims about X.
A statement from his office dubbed the liberal group as a "radical anti-free speech organization".
Mr Paxton pledged to guarantee that "people have not been deceived by the plans of extremist leftist groups who dream of nothing more than repressing liberty by diminishing involvement in public gatherings".
On Monday, the White House declared that President Joe Biden would be taking part in Threads, which is a competing platform to X, owned by Meta.
Accounts on Threads have been established for President, First Lady, Vice-President, and Second Gentleman.
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