Elon Musk announced on Saturday his intention to sue Media Matters of America, a non-profit organisation, over a report they published on Wednesday. This report has triggered a substantial withdrawal of advertisements on X, previously known as Twitter, with major companies like Apple and Disney halting their ad placements.
In a tweet, Musk declared, "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."
In the same tweet, Musk acknowledged that, among the nine highlighted posts in the report, one did violate Twitter's policies and should have been removed, but the remaining eight did not breach any guidelines. He further criticised the group, accusing them of misrepresenting the genuine user experience on the platform in an effort to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers.
This move follows a series of major companies, including Disney, Apple, Oracle, Lionsgate, IBM, and Warner Bros, pausing their online advertising campaigns on the microblogging platform after the Media Matters' report highlighted their ads appearing alongside "content promoting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party."
Linda Yaccarino, X's chief executive, addressed employees on Thursday, emphasising that "X is a platform for everyone" and called for an end to discrimination by all parties. She underscored the company's commitment to combating antisemitism and discrimination, reiterating a similar message on X at a later time.
“X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the board -- I think that's something we can and should all agree on. When it comes to this platform -- X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There's no place for it anywhere in the world -- it's ugly and wrong. Full stop, she said.
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