Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is siding with Elon Musk’s media platform X against Media Matters, initiating an investigation of the media watchdog for allegedly committing fraud in order to restrain free speech.
Paxton announced that his investigation was prompted by Musk’s accusations against Media Matters for America in a November 20 post on X, along with a news release.
“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,” read the post.
The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter before it was purchased and renamed by Musk, filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Texas on November 20 against Media Matters, which describes itself as “a progressive research and information center” opposed to what it calls “conservative misinformation” in media.
In the suit, X claimed that Media Matters reporters created an X profile for the express purpose of manipulating the platform’s ability to let “users shape their own experiences” in order to be able to report that certain companies’ ads appeared in connection to “pro-Nazi content.” By doing so, X claimed, Media Matters falsely led companies to believe their ads were being frequently paired with posts containing racism and other offensive content when, in fact, such outcomes were “extraordinarily rare.”
X’s lawsuit claims that Media Matters was motivated by a desire to silence speech that goes against its leftist viewpoints. Thus, X and Elon Musk became targets due to their commitment to free speech, it argues.
“… X Corp. and Elon Musk are a critical Media Matters target because X is the most prominent online platform that permits users to share all viewpoints, whether liberal or conservative, and Mr. Musk is the most prominent voice on the platform and a passionate supporter of free speech,” the lawsuit states.
Paxton’s press release echoed X’s free speech argument: “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.”
Media Matters reacted to Musk threatening a lawsuit last week by claiming it would be frivolous.
“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. Musk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified. If he does sue us, we will win,” Media Matters posted.
Media Matters did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit or the Texas investigation.
