US court dismisses Elon Musk X lawsuit against anti-hate watchdog

A judge in California said X’s case against the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) was designed to crack down on speech critical of the social media network.

On Monday, US time, Judge Charles Breyer of the US District Court for the Northern District of California rejected social network X’s lawsuit against CCDH that had reported a spike in misinformation and hate speech on the platform since billionaire Mr Musk’s takeover.

X, previously known as Twitter, sued CCDH last July, accusing it of a smear campaign by cherrypicking data that damaged the company’s relationship with advertisers and resulted in revenue losses of tens of millions of dollars.

But CCDH argued that the case should be thrown out because it breached California’s so-called anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) laws. The anti-SLAPP law is designed to filter out court cases that are frivolous and might restrict freedom of speech.

Case designed to ‘punish’ non-profit

The California court said it was evident the lawsuit was filed to “punish” the non-profit for publishing research critical of the social network, and likely dissuade others from doing so.

“Sometimes it is unclear what is driving a litigation, and only by reading between the lines of a complaint can one attempt to surmise a plaintiff’s true purpose,” wrote Judge Breyer in his 52-page ruling.

“Other times, a complaint is so unabashedly and vociferously about one thing that there can be no mistaking that purpose. This case represents the latter circumstance. This case is about punishing the defendants for their speech.”

Judge Breyer added that CCDH’s report on X “unquestionably constitutes” the organisation’s right to free speech.

Vapid

Last month, the same judge told X’s lawyers that the case was one of the “most vapid extensions of law that I’ve ever heard”.

Neither X nor Mr Musk immediately responded to an AFP request for comment. Last week, Mr Musk tweeted that CCDH was “a truly evil organisation that just wants to destroy the first amendment (which guarantees free speech) under the guise of doing good!”

CCDH chief executive and founder Imran Ahmed celebrated the case’s dismissal.

“We hope this landmark ruling will embolden public-interest researchers everywhere to continue, and even intensify, their vital work of holding social media companies accountable for the hate and disinformation they host and the harm they cause,” Mr Ahmed said in a statement.

According to misinformation researchers, falsehoods as well as hateful and racist speech have sharply risen on X since Mr Musk completed his $44 ($A67) billion takeover in October 2022.

Since then, the Tesla boss has fired thousands of the platform’s employees, cut content moderation and reinstated many previously banned accounts.

Mr Musk has also seen major advertisers flee the site over the increase in troublesome content, and has struggled to build a strong enough subscription base to make up the lost revenue.