A lawsuit brought against the charity Center for Countering Digital Hate by Elon Musk’s X platform was dismissed by a federal court on Monday. The case was filed last year.
The case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who said in his ruling that the center was being targeted for spreading conspiracy theories and hate speech because of its reporting on the subject of X.
The judge observed, “The purpose of this case is to penalize the Defendants for their speech.”
X said in a statement on Monday that it will be appealing Breyer’s ruling and that it disagreed with it.
Elon Musk, who describes himself as an absolutist when it comes to free speech, attacked the Center for Countering Digital Hate last year after it published a study titled “Toxic Twitter” at the time when X was known as Twitter.
According to that story, Twitter, which is owned by Elon Musk, has restored the accounts of users who had been suspended for being “neo-Nazis, white supremacists, misogynists, and spreaders of dangerous conspiracy theories.” As a consequence, Twitter was expected to benefit from more advertising.
X filed a lawsuit against the center and the European Climate Foundation, a different nonprofit organization that X’s attorneys said colluded with the center to get advertising data unlawfully. According to the complaint, the organizations were illegally tampering with X’s connection with advertisers and had “cherry-picked” information.
However, Breyer said in his decision that X was just attempting to quiet its detractors. He decided that X’s complaint was illegal under a California statute that prohibits “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” or SLAPPs, which are lawsuits intended to stifle free expression.
It is clear why X Corp. brought this lawsuit. X Corp. filed this lawsuit against CCDH over CCDH writings that were critical of X Corp. Breyer said, “and possibly to discourage others who might want to participate in such criticism.”
“X Corp. demands ‘at least tens of millions of dollars’ in damages — presumably enough to torpedo the operations of a small nonprofit — because of the views expressed in the nonprofit’s publications, despite CCDH’s accusation that X Corp. is trying ‘to censor viewpoints that CCDH disagrees with,'” he continued.
“It would be one thing if CCDH’s publications were defamatory, but X Corp. has refrained from claiming that they are.”
Elon Musk attempted to “weaponize the courts to censor good-faith research and reporting,” according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which also applauded the decision.
The center said on X that this was “a huge win for everyone working to hold social media giants to account.”
It said, “We’ll continue to stand up for independent research and to expose hate and lies wherever we see them.” #Elon Musk
A representative for the organization told NBC News that it intends to ask X to compensate it for its legal expenses.
The spokesman said, “X Corp. is in fact on the hook for CCDH’s legal fees under the anti-SLAPP statute because CCDH prevailed on its anti-SLAPP motion.” “The precise fee amount will need to be resolved in court, and CCDH intends to start that procedure as soon as is reasonably possible.” #Elon Musk
In a different decision, Breyer also rejected the accusations made against the European Climate Foundation. A request for comment was not immediately answered by the charity.
SOURCE: NBC NEWS
