Elon Musk’s X. Corp sues Center for Countering Digital Hate for ‘actively working to assert false and misleading claims’ to scare away Twitter advertisers
- Lawyers for Twitter’s parent company said the CCDH has ’embarked on a scare campaign to drive away advertisers from the platform’
- A lawsuit said the CCDH ‘unlawfully accessed data’ from X and presented it ‘out of context… to make it appear as if X is overwhelmed by harmful content’
- X Corp took issue with a recent study by the nonprofit which claimed Twitter ‘fails to act on 99 percent of Twitter Blue accounts tweeting hate’
Twitter’s parent company X. Corp has sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate alleging it ’embarked on a scare campaign to drive away advertisers from the platform’.
Lawyers for Elon Musk’s company claimed the nonprofit, which counters online hate speech, gained data from the platform ‘unlawfully’ then used it ‘out of context… to make it appear as if X is overwhelmed by harmful content’.
The CCDH then ‘used that contrived narrative to call for companies to stop advertising on X’, the lawsuit claims. Twitter is currently being rebranded X as part of a radical shake-up at the company.
X filed the suit on Monday night, hours after the CCDH revealed it received a legal letter from the company which threatened legal action over a report that claimed the platform ‘fails to act on 99 percent of Twitter Blue accounts tweeting hate’.
Lawyers for X accused it of a series of ‘troubling and baseless claims’ that are intended to ‘harm Twitter’s business’. The CCDH accused X of ‘ridiculous’ and ‘frivolous claims’ intended to ‘intimidate thoughtful critics.’
Center for Countering Digital Hate CEO Imran Ahmed said ‘Elon Musk’s actions represent a brazen attempt to silence honest criticism and independent research’
Lawyers for Elon Musk’s company X Corp. claim the CCDH, which counters online hate speech, gained data from the platform ‘unlawfully’ then used it ‘out of context… to make it appear as if X is overwhelmed by harmful content’
Center for Countering Digital Hate CEO Imran Ahmed said ‘Elon Musk’s actions represent a brazen attempt to silence honest criticism and independent research.’
X’s lawsuit alleges breach of contract, breach of the computer fraud and abuse act and international interference with contractual relations.
The suit says the CCDH ‘scraped data from X’s platform in violation of the express terms of its [user] agreement’ and also improperly used a third party analytics platform to carry out research.
‘CCDH’s underhanded conduct is nothing new. It has a history of using similar tactics not for the goal of combating hate, but rather to censor a wide range of viewpoints on social media with which it disagrees,’ it said.
X also claimed the CCDH is ‘funded and supported by unknown organizations, individuals and potentially even foreign governments with ties to legacy media companies’. The CCDH denies it receives funding from governments or tech firms.
In the letter to CCDH ahead of the lawsuit, X Corp had cited a CCDH report from June that suggested Twitter allows Twitter Blue subscribers to ‘break its rules with impunity.’
The CCDH said it reported 100 ‘hateful’ tweets in its study – including examples of racism, homophobia and antisemitism – but that 99 of them were still live four days later.
X Corp.’s attorney, Alex Spiro, wrote: ‘The article cites no sources other than different, similarly threadbare posts on CCDH’s own website, and fails to identify the qualifications of any of the researchers who worked on the article.’
‘In other words, the article is little more than a series of inflammatory, misleading, and unsupported claims based on a cursory review of random tweets.’
The CCDH fired back on Monday with a response from its lawyers saying X Corp.’s letter was ‘ridiculous’ and the ‘frivolous claims’ were an attempt to ‘intimidate thoughtful critics.’
‘We caution against any further attempts by X Corp. to threaten or intimidate our clients,’ the letter said. Hours later, the suit was filed.
The legal battle comes as Musk attempts to rebrand Twitter, which he bought in October $44 billion, while dealing with a roughly 50 percent decline in advertising revenue.
X Corp.’s initial letter to the CCDH cited a Time article which reported that advertisers had left the platform after Musk’s acquisition and recent ‘content policy changes’ led to a spike in ‘hateful, violent and inaccurate posts’.
The lawsuit came after X sent a letter to the CCDH on July 20, 2023 which alleged the nonprofit was ‘supported by funding from X Corp.’s commercial competitors, as well as government entities and their affiliates’
The war of words comes as Musk attempts to rebrand Twitter, which he bought in October $44 billion, while dealing with a roughly 50 percent decline in advertising revenue
A New York Times article in May also said advertising had tumbled 59 percent and Twitter staffers feared advertisers were ‘spooked’ by changes at the platform.
The study by the CCDH uncovered 100 tweets from subscribers to Twitter Blue’s service that ‘clearly violate the platform’s policies against hateful conduct’.
Tweets highlighted in the report included racism, antisemitism, praise for Adolf Hitler and the suggestion LGBT campaigners should be shot.
The study alleged that four days after it reported the tweets, only one had been removed and that all of the accounts remained active.
X claimed the study was a ‘cursory review of random tweets’, provided ‘no methodology’ and ‘no explanation as to why the 100 chosen tweets represent an appropriate sample of the nearly 500 million tweets sent per day from which to generalize about the platform’s content moderation practices’.
The letter further alleged that the CCDH was ‘supported by funding from X Corp.’s commercial competitors, as well as government entities and their affiliates’.
The CCDH said it does not ‘accept any funding from tech companies, governments or their affiliates’.
Its response said it is ‘fully prepared to defend itself’ if X Corp. brings legal action.
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