Judge dismisses Elon Musk’s ‘vapid’ lawsuit

The Center for Countering Digital Hate has documented the increase in racist, antisemitic, and extremist content on X since Musk’s acquisition

A California judge dismissed Elon Musk’s lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a non-profit that has reported on the increase in racist, antisemitic, and extremist content on X (formerly Twitter) since Musk acquired it.

The dismissal was based on the state’s anti-SLAPP law, which prohibits lawsuits aimed at punishing free speech.

“Sometimes, the motivation behind a lawsuit is unclear, requiring inference from the complaint. In other cases, the purpose is unmistakable,” wrote US District Judge Charles Breyer in his ruling. “This case falls into the latter category. It is clearly about retaliating against the defendants for their speech.”

The dismissal was not surprising. In a hearing last month, Breyer criticized parts of Musk’s case as one of the “most vapid extensions of law” he had heard. Breyer also questioned why Musk’s lawyers did not file a defamation lawsuit if they believed CCDH was making false and damaging claims in its reports.

“You didn’t bring a defamation claim,” Breyer noted. “Now you tell me that, actually, this is even better than a defamation claim. But of course, it’s not.”

Musk, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” did not immediately comment on the ruling. Last week, Musk tweeted that “CCDH is a truly evil organization that just wants to destroy the first amendment under the guise of doing good.”

The CCDH welcomed the ruling, with CEO Imran Ahmed expressing hope that it would encourage other researchers to hold social media companies accountable. Roberta Kaplan, the organization’s lawyer in the case, praised the decision as a validation of CCDH’s mission.

“Today’s decision shows that even the wealthiest individuals cannot manipulate the legal system to their advantage,” Kaplan said. “We appreciate the district court’s thorough opinion, which rejects Elon Musk and X Corp’s attempt to use the courts to censor legitimate research and reporting.”

X Corp, Musk’s company, filed a lawsuit against CCDH last year, claiming that the organization had “intentionally and unlawfully accessed data” by scraping posts from the platform for its reports. CCDH defended its actions as the collection of public data and criticized the lawsuit as an attempt to censor speech critical of Musk.

“Musk’s & X Corp’s strategy is to prolong this case in court to impose escalating legal expenses on us,” CCDH stated on X before the hearing. “This is a clear case of Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (Slapp) designed to intimidate us from researching on X.”

Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022, which he later renamed X, the platform has experienced a significant exodus of major advertisers. This was accompanied by a documented increase in hate speech and a shift away from reputable news sources to lower-quality viral content. Musk responded to the loss of advertisers by initiating a series of lawsuits against organizations that monitor hate speech. These legal actions included suing CCDH in California and filing a separate lawsuit in Texas against the progressive non-profit Media Matters.

In a public event with the New York Times in November, Musk further expressed his feelings towards advertisers who had withdrawn from the platform, telling them to “go fuck yourself.”

The lawsuits have raised concerns among rights groups and researchers, who view Musk, one of the wealthiest individuals globally, as trying to use his vast wealth to silence critics. Musk’s actions align with a broader Republican campaign aimed at anti-disinformation researchers, which includes lawsuits against entities like the Stanford Internet Observatory and the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public.

Additionally, Musk is currently embroiled in a class-action lawsuit filed by former X employees. The lawsuit claims that the company did not pay $500 million in severance following Musk’s acquisition of the platform and subsequent large-scale layoffs.