Elon Musk, CEO of X Corp. (formerly known as Twitter), has filed a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a British non-profit organization. Musk accuses CCDH of engaging in a “scare campaign” that aimed to intimidate advertisers away from X Corp. over its free speech agenda.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that CCDH unlawfully accessed private data from X Corp. and cherry-picked specific posts to falsely inflate hate speech statistics on the platform under Musk’s ownership. According to the complaint, CCDH published fabricated hate speech reports to drive away advertisers.
The legal action followed a letter from X Corp.’s attorney, Alex Spiro, threatening legal action against CCDH for making baseless claims to harm the platform’s reputation and advertising business. X Corp. refutes CCDH’s claims and states that the organization used incorrect, misleading, and outdated metrics for its report.
Musk has been vocal about his commitment to combatting hate speech and promoting free speech on the platform. He purchased the company to create a common digital town square, encouraging healthy debates without resorting to violence. Musk believes that social media should not become divided into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate hate and division in society.
In response to the lawsuit, CCDH founder and chief executive Imran Ahmed criticized Musk’s actions, claiming that the legal threat aims to silence those who criticize the toxic content on the platform. Ahmed maintains that the CCDH’s research highlights hate and disinformation spreading on the platform under Musk’s ownership.
X Corp.’s lawsuit seeks a jury trial and unspecified monetary damages. The company also aims to prevent CCDH and its supporters from accessing X Corp.’s data without authorization and violating its terms of service.