AMAC Exclusive – By Shane Harris
Despite the mainstream media’s outright dismissal of Elon Musk’s “thermonuclear lawsuit” against notorious left-wing group Media Matters for America, the legal action could pose a serious threat to a key part of the left’s smear machine. In addition, the lawsuit lays the groundwork for how other individuals and organizations targeted by the left can strike back.
Elon Musk has remained one of the left’s top targets since he purchased Twitter (renamed “X” earlier this year) back in April 2022 and promised to end the rampant censorship of conservatives and other voices that dissent from establishment orthodoxy. He has largely followed through on that pledge, restoring many banned accounts, most notably former President Donald Trump.
In response, the left has launched an endless stream of attacks on both X and Musk himself. The media has variously claimed that Musk is promoting “hate speech” and allowing “bullying” of certain groups online. The Securities and Exchange Commission – run by Biden appointees – has also launched a series of investigations into Musk’s purchase of Twitter, and is attempting to force the world’s richest man to personally testify in what increasingly looks like a politically motivated effort to harass and intimidate him.
In the latest coordinated attack on X and Musk, Media Matters for America, an organization that bills itself as a nonpartisan “media watchdog” but is in actuality a well-funded liberal dark money group dedicated to attacking conservatives, published a report claiming that X “has been placing ads for Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity next to pro-Nazi content.” The report included screenshots that appeared to show ads for the well-known brands next to clearly objectionable posts.
In response, Apple and IBM quickly announced that they were immediately suspending all advertising on X – a major hit for the platform, as IBM had pledged to spend $1 million in advertising over just the last three months of 2023, while Apple spent an eye-watering $180 million in ads on X in 2022.
Apple and IBM joined more than a half dozen other major brands who have recently pulled their ads off X, including Comcast/NBC Universal, Disney, Lionsgate Entertainment, and Paramount Global. Musk has reportedly revealed that ad revenue has plummeted by 60 percent overall since he closed the deal to purchase X.
Following the failure of personal attacks to bully him into submission, pressuring advertisers into leaving the platform and bleeding the company dry appears to be the left’s new strategy for bringing Musk to heel.
But Musk has made clear that he will not go quietly. Just a few days after the Media Matters report dropped, Musk posted a statement saying, “The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company” – a pledge he made good on late last month.
The statement alleges that Media Matters effectively gamed X’s algorithm in order to have ads appear next to objectionable content.
“To manipulate the public and advertisers, Media Matters created an alternate account and curated the posts and advertising appearing on the account’s timeline to misinform advertisers about the placement of their posts. These contrived experiences could be applied to any platform,” Musk says. In one case, an ad shown in the Media Matters report “was only seen in that setting by one user, the author of the Media Matters article.”
In fact, as a subsequent report from The Wall Street Journal revealed, ads from many of the same brands who have pulled money from X appear with far more frequency next to overtly sexual adult content and risqué footage of children on Instagram.
While the mainstream media has largely dismissed Musk’s lawsuit as unwinnable, there is reason to believe that Musk could indeed prevail – and that, even if he doesn’t, it could prove disastrous for Media Matters.
Musk filed his lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, a reliably conservative court where X can expect to get a fair hearing. Following Musk’s lawsuit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also launched an investigation into Media Matters for “potential fraudulent activity.” That could mean that Media Matters is forced to fight a two-front legal war that would require substantial financial resources.
As Charles Gasparino wrote for The New York Post late last month, even if Musk doesn’t win the case, “Media Matters during discovery could be forced to make significant disclosures on its reporting process and the sources of its funding.” That could open the organization up to scrutiny that it’s donor network definitely does not want.
“And if Musk wins,” Gasparino says, “you can certainly see him seeking a Hulk Hogan/Gawker-type settlement to put Media Matters out of business once and for all.”
The Gawker precedent could be important in Musk’s case against Media Matters. In 2016, a jury ordered Gawker Media, a sleazy gossip site, to pay $140 million to professional wrestler Hulk Hogan for invasion of privacy after Gawker released portions of a sex tape involving Hogan. Soon after, Gawker filed for bankruptcy.
It was later revealed that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, an early Facebook investor, financed the lawsuit that put Gawker out of business. The case showed what can be accomplished when a wealthy individual decides to take on an organization like Gawker or Media Matters.
While Musk’s case undoubtedly has some high legal hurdles to clear, his willingness to stand and fight is itself admirable. And should he prevail – or even lose but cause serious damage to Media Matters in the process – it would be a major victory for everyone who has been targeted by the left’s cancel culture machine.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on Twitter @ShaneHarris513.
