X has sued Media Matters.
The article that started it
Media Matters published this article: "As Musk endorses antisemitic conspiracy theory, X has been placing ads for Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity next to pro-Nazi content." CEO Linda Yaccarino previously claimed that brands are “protected from the risk of being next to” toxic posts. Eric Hananoki. November 16, 2023.
Advertisers pulled out of X
In immediate response, some advertisers pulled their ads.
Apple, "the platform’s largest advertiser, accounting for nearly $50 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2022," pulled out, as did "Disney, Comcast, Lionsgate and Paramount Global."
Judd Legum ("Free speech does not require subsidizing bigotry," Popular Information, November 20) wrote:
"Media Matters reported that X has been placing ads for major brands alongside pro-Nazi content. Ads for corporations also appeared alongside white nationalist hashtags. This was exactly what Linda Yaccarino, X'sCEO, said would not happen. In an August interview on CNBC, Yaccarino said that 'lawful but awful' content is 'demonetized.' In that way, brands 'are protected from the risk of being next to that content.'"
Elon Musk, head of X, is mad, but does not have a real argument
Judd Legum again on Popular Information (November 21): "...according to X's own statement, all Media Matters did was create an account, follow some users, and observe what ads were displayed. ... the idea that Media Matters' conduct is legally actionable is absurd, especially since X has already admitted that ads were displayed next to the posts identified by Media Matters."
And yet Trump advisor Stephen Miller made noise, after which Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (a Republican) told the right-wing channel Newsmax: "And so," Legum says, "if we have an instance where there was a deceptive or fraudulent business practice where Media Matters was using some sort of coercive or fraudulent algorithms or advertising, that's going to be problematic on the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act." However, he points out: "Media Matters’ conduct did not involve 'fraudulent algorithms' or 'advertising.' And the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act only applies to 'the sale or advertisement of any merchandise in trade or commerce.' Media Matters was not selling anything."
Parker Molloy writes: "Last week, the richest man on the planet declared war on Media Matters for America, one of my former employers, repeatedly calling them 'pure evil'...The tl;dr about that lawsuit is that Elon Musk is angry that Media Matters has been publishing stories about the spread of hateful content on Twitter; Musk’s own racist, antisemitic, and transphobic tweets; and why major advertisers have been rushing to the exits." Molloy adds: "1. Musk absolutely does not believe in complete and total 'free speech' on Twitter," and "2. Advertisers are not obligated to continue advertising on a platform that went from being a low-simmering cesspool of hate to a full-on 4chan replica."
Furthermore, Molloy writes:
"I also can’t quite get over the double standard here. Musk’s far-right friends have turned 'Bud Light' into a verb that roughly translates to 'We’re going to destroy any brand that acknowledges the existence of people we hate' after losing their minds about the brand advertising one (1) time on trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s Instagram account and terrorizing Target stores across the country in sudden outrage over the chain’s truly inoffensive Pride section. Those tactics are far, far more extreme than simply being like, 'Hey brands, you know that you’re advertising next to stuff like this?'"— "The Richest Man in the World Sued My Former Employer." It's a bit surreal to be watching this from the outside. Parker Molloy, The Present Age, November 27, 2023.
Re: Bud Light, see my post on that: Transphobes are boycotting beer because of the spokesperson.
Also: Really easy to find ads displaying next to bad content. Just search for bad content, then see if an ad displays. Voila.
Elon’s Censorial Lawsuit Against Media Matters Inspiring Many More People To Find ExTwitter Ads On Awful Content, Mike Masnick, techdirt, November 27
Thing is, X's self-punishment has an endpoint. If Musk drives his platform into the ground, antisemites and transphobes will have nowhere to congregate. So here you have one of the key transphobes, Chaya Raichik behind Libs of TikTok — yes, she's an Orthodox Jew; yes, that's confusing — begging Walmart to bring its ad dollars back to the antisemitic platform so she can keep doing her transphobia.
January 2024
By the way, here's more context about antisemitism on 4chan. Yair Rosenberg points out on Bluesky (Jan 10, 2024): "4 million views, 31,000 likes for an insane 4chan post about how New York Jews are snatching unsuspecting gentiles into their secret child trafficking tunnels."
May 2024
Related to the interest in unaccountability:
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