Musk accuses media watchdog of slander, warns of legal action

Elon Musk  on Saturday threatened to sue Media Matters, a media watchdog, and those who attacked his social media platform X. This comes after several major U.S. companies decided to stop advertising on the site due to its association with antisemitic content. 

X has been scrutinised all week for antisemitic and racist content that has spread on the site since Musk purchased it in 2022.

Earlier this week, the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America reported that advertisements from companies like IBM and Apple were placed alongside content endorsing Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

On Wednesday, Elon Musk also sparked controversy when he supported an antisemitic post on X, which accused the Jewish community of inciting hatred against white people. This action drew severe criticism, including from the White House.

In response to the backlash, Musk announced on X, “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”. He did not specify any other parties involved in his statement.

In the past two days, several companies have halted their advertisements, including IBM, Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Comcast, Lions Gate Entertainment, and Paramount Global. According to a report by Axios, Apple, which holds the title of the world’s largest company by market value, is also planning to follow suit. 

“This week Media Matters for America posted a story that completely misrepresented the real experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers,” said Musk.

He further accused Media Matters of creating a fake account to “misinform advertisers” about their posts.