'LFG!' Texas judge sets stage for Elon Musk to drag leftist Media Matters before a jury

Elon Musk's X Corp. filed a lawsuit against Media Matters for America on Nov. 20, 2023, accusing the leftist outfit of dishonestly and "maliciously" suggesting to major advertisers on the platform that its posts had appeared "beside Neo-Nazi and white-nationalist fringe content." The alleged purpose of Media Matters' concern-mongering campaign was to "drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp."

Media Matters, an organization founded by Democratic operative David Brock, attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed in an apparent effort to avoid a jury trial and the possibility of being financially wiped out of existence by having to compensate X Corp. for damages.

Judge Reed O'Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas denied Media Matters' request Thursday, just as he denied the leftist outfit's motion to prevent the lawsuit from moving to the discovery phase in April and rejected its desperate attempt to list Tesla as an interested party in the lawsuit.

Contrary to the suggestion by Media Matters, O'Connor indicated that X Corp. has indeed succeeded in stating a claim for the following three causes of action: tortious interference with existing contractual relations, business disparagement, and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage.

The case will now go to trial on April 7.

Musk, who has repeatedly claimed that Media Matters is "pure evil," responded to news of the dismissal on X, writing, "LFG!" — an acronym indicating his readiness to tangle with the so-called watchdog in court.

The case largely centers on a report Media Matters published on Nov. 16, 2023, titled, "As Musk endorses antisemitic conspiracy theory, X has been placing ads for Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity next to pro-Nazi content."

The article alleged:

[Elon Musk's] social media platform has been placing ads for major brands like Apple, Bravo (NBCUniversal), IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity (Comcast) next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party. The company’s placements come after CEO Linda Yaccarino claimed that brands are 'protected from the risk of being next to' toxic posts on the platform.

On Nov. 18, 2023, Musk tweeted, "The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company."

X Corp.'s original complaint noted that in November 2023 alone, Media Matters had published over 20 articles "disparaging both X Corp. and Elon Musk" — the latest campaign in an apparent years-long war against the platform to paint it as a "risky, unsafe platform for advertisers."

According to the lawsuit, in order to produce the desired result for its preferred narrative about X, Media Matters "manipulated the algorithms governing the user experience on X to bypass safeguards and create images of X's largest advertisers' paid posts adjacent to racist, incendiary content, leaving the false impression that these pairings are anything but what they actually are: manufactured, inorganic, and extraordinarily rare."

Despite allegedly manipulating the algorithm, the complaint claimed Media Matters still was not left with its desired pairings of ads and content, so it:

resorted to endlessly scrolling and refreshing its unrepresentative, hand-selected feed, generating between 13 and 15 times more advertisements per hour than viewed by the average X user repeating this inauthentic activity until it finally received pages containing the result it wanted.

The lawsuit claimed that Media Matters hid its alleged manipulation from readers and advertisers alike.

'Media Matters stands behind its reporting.'

Most of the companies mentioned in the corresponding Media Matters report, including Apple, Comcast, Disney, IBM, and NBCUniversal, suspended their advertisers — a result the leftist outfit celebrated in updates to the article itself.

At the time of filing, Media Matters President Angelo Carusone vowed to defend his site, reported CNBC.

"This is a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X's critics into silence. Media Matters stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court," Carusone said in a statement.

Media Matters filed a motion to dismiss in March, alleging lack of personal jurisdiction, improper venue, and failure to state a claim. It did so unsuccessfully and will now likely face a jury.

CNBC indicated Friday that Media Matters had not responded to a request for comment.

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