The so-called elite criticism of Elon Musk’s “thermonuclear” lawsuit against the left-wing provocateurs of Media Matters for America assumes that Musk has no arguments because he is Elon Musk, the electric vehicle manufacturer, entrepreneur and social media troll who recently gave credence to seminuclear demand. -Racist rantings from some random X user.
I have to admit that I sometimes feel sympathy for the Elon-skeptical crowd, having covered his oddities for so long.
Remember the time he tweeted that he had a deal to take his then-electric vehicle maker, Tesla, private at a price well above its stock price.
It didn’t, and investors who bought the stock were screwed.
Then there’s the oddity of his on-again, off-again purchase of Twitter in 2022 (rebranded as X), which we don’t have room to get into.
Well, “Crazy Elon” has some skeletons, although he no longer runs a struggling electric vehicle manufacturer, but one so successful that he is the richest man in the world.
And he has rightly promised to squeeze left-wing censorship out of X.
It’s also a big mistake to let his past performances make final judgment on his claims against MMA because the judge in Texas (conservative) who will hear the case won’t, and the case isn’t that weak, my legal sources say. .
The fact of the matter is that Media Matters manufactured a hit against Musk for political reasons, inventing a “scandal” that major companies regularly find their X ads next to some of the most vile things on the platform.
Musk’s legal team says in the lawsuit, and as his advisors explained to me during a lengthy interview last week, that their internal investigation shows that MMA discovered a way to manipulate X’s algorithms to produce the desired result, i.e., accounts. of pro-Nazi users who appear regularly. near ads for IBM, Apple, etc.
MMA did this by creating accounts that “followed” neo-Nazis and big advertisers almost exclusively, and continually updating the feed until the creepy ad placement was achieved.
The lawsuit alleges that something needs to be done on the level of NBC’s notorious rigging of GM trucks to make them explode as if they were unsafe (the network settled that case for an undisclosed sum of money and an apology to the automaker ) or police who plant drugs. on someone suspected of being a trafficker, to achieve what Media Matters suggested is common in X.
Damaging accusations
In other words, X’s argument is that there is a lot of falsehood.
What is real, the people at X tell me, is that the Media Matters story has been damaging.
Advertisers are now boycotting and X is working feverishly to win them back, although there are no guarantees.
So my sources say the Elon case is an easy win?
Not even close.
At the center of the case is defamation, which is always a heavy weight.
But they do like Musk’s chances of making Media Matters’ life a living hell if the lawsuit survives the inevitable motion to dismiss.
During discovery, Media Matters could be forced to make important disclosures about its reporting process and funding sources.
And if Musk wins (the case is being heard in Texas), you can certainly imagine him seeking a Hulk Hogan/Gawker-type deal to put Media Matters out of business once and for all.
I qualify all of that with the word “if” because I have no way of knowing if what is in the lawsuit is not just a publicized version of the truth.
Furthermore, Musk and
The smear is on Media Matters, suggesting that the typical user experience on X is a far-right hellscape.
Media Matters for America did not return my call or email for comment.
Since the filing, its president, Angelo Carusone, said the case is “frivolous” and “intended to intimidate X’s critics into silence.”
“Media Matters stands behind its reporting and hopes to win in court.”
But this is where things get complicated for the organization.
Musk’s lawyers know they are in danger for filing a frivolous lawsuit.
And where is MMA’s rebuttal to Musk’s main point: that he created the user experience he deplores?
Carusone hasn’t said it, at least not yet.
Likewise, he has remained silent on any description of MMA’s methodology for how it came to the conclusion that Musk’s “X” has been placing ads for Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle and Xfinity next to pro-Nazi content.
All major news organizations rely on defamation lawyers and the ones I know (I’ve been edited for defamation hundreds of times) would demand a CYA (cover your ass) disclosure on how such an explosive conclusion was reached.
Furthermore, MMA is not a neutral observer.
He is going after Musk as he does other media he considers deviant (i.e., non-woke and conservative), seeking to generate bad press leading to advertising boycotts as his “research” reaches his fellow travelers in the mainstream media. communication.
You could see how a judge might not like how Media Matters supposedly started backwards in its reporting, as X says, to reach its conclusion.
That’s when you start removing obstacles to committing defamation, showing that Media Matters has an ax to grind that’s so big that it recklessly ignored the truth, my lawyer sources say.
Yes, Musk will most likely lose his case in the long run, my sources say.
Media Matters has funding to match Musk’s $200+ billion net worth (aka George Soros money).
But as my legal sources point out, the case could be costly on many levels, fully exposing Media Matters’ potentially unethical methods of achieving its left-wing political agenda, and the idiocy of mainstream reporters for blindly following its “reports.”
