A federal judge has ruled against Elon Musk and X in their lawsuit against the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The suit, which was personally directed by Musk and targeted the CCDH’s research on online hate, was dismissed by United States district judge Charles R. Breyer.
X sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) last year, accusing the group of spreading misleading claims after it published a series of unflattering reports about hate and extremism on the platform.
In the lawsuit, X claimed that it lost “tens of millions of dollars” due to the CCDH’s research. They also accused the nonprofit of illegally scraping data and breaking platform rules by aggregating content through a third-party social media monitoring tool, Brandwatch.
Musk, who personally directed the lawsuit, called the CCDH “an evil propaganda machine” in replies on X.
However, last year the CCDH filed a motion to strike X’s claims under California’s law against Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP). This law is meant to prevent frivolous lawsuits intended to intimidate, and the CCDH asked for the case to be dismissed. CEO Imran Ahmed accused Musk, who is worth around $200 billion, of deliberately dragging out the legal process to drive up the nonprofit’s legal costs.
CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed accused Musk, who is worth around $200 billion, of deliberately drawing out the legal process to run up the organization’s legal costs.
Judge Breyer granted the CCDH’s motion to dismiss on Monday and denied the opportunity for Musk and X to relitigate the case. In his ruling, Breyer stated, “X Corp. has brought this case in order to punish CCDH for CCDH publications that criticized X Corp. – and perhaps in order to dissuade others who might wish to engage in such criticism.”
The CCDH has been vocal in its criticism of Musk’s role in promoting hate speech on social media platforms, especially since he took over Twitter. In one report, the organization explored how his decision to unban a number of highly followed extremists could give the company an ad revenue boost. This included notorious neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin, who is responsible for the white supremacist website, The Daily Stormer.
The nonprofit, founded in 2018, is dedicated to researching trends in hate speech, extremism, and misinformation on major social networks. Its reports often highlight disturbing content across different platforms, such as eating disorder content on TikTok, climate denial on YouTube, and violent misogynistic threats on Instagram.
We create costs for lies and hate. The courts today have affirmed our fundamental right to research, to speak, to advocate, and to hold accountable social media companies for decisions they make behind closed doors that affect our kids, our democracy, and our fundamental human rights and civil liberties.
The CCDH’s legal team included Roberta Kaplan, who recently won a major victory against former president Donald Trump in the E. Jean Carroll defamation suit. Of Monday’s ruling, Kaplan stated, “Today’s decision proves that even the world’s wealthiest man cannot bend the rule of law to his will.”
While the CCDH’s successful outcome in California is a relief to researchers who track online extremism, Musk is pursuing a similar lawsuit against the left-leaning media watchdog, Media Matters for America. However, unlike the CCDH case, X is suing Media Matters for America in Texas, which does not have the same protections against frivolous lawsuits aimed at stifling free speech.
