Elon Musk’s X Corp. sued a nonprofit group that monitors online hate speech, accusing it of falsely describing the social media platform formerly known as Twitter as being “overwhelmed with harmful content.”
In the lawsuit, filed late Monday in San Francisco federal court, X Corp. claims The Center for Countering Digital Hate is illegally “scraping” its servers and cherry picking objectionable posts as part of “a scare campaign to drive away advertisers.”
Advertisers have fled the platform since Musk bought it for $44 billion last year and started making changes, including reinstating formerly banned users and firing content moderators. Advertising revenue at Twitter is down more than 50% since October, Musk has said. Musk changed the name of the social media platform to X from Twitter.
One report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate said Twitter took no action against 99% of 100 Twitter Blue accounts the center reported for “tweeting hate.”
X Corp. is seeking unspecified monetary damages in its lawsuit and an injunction barring the center from accessing its data.
“The public has the right to know if and how @ElonMusk’s leadership has led to more hate speech on Twitter,” the nonprofit tweeted earlier Monday after X Corp. threatened to sue.
“By threatening us, Musk is trying to hide the truth about his own failures,” the group said. “Platforms must be held accountable for spreading hate & lies.”
The suit is X Corp, a Nevada Corporation v. Center for Countering Digital Hate, Inc., 3:23-cv-03836, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).