X Sues Media Matters After Musk’s Threat of ‘Thermonuclear Lawsuit’

zz/Wil R/STAR MAX/IPx 2020 via AP

X/Twitter sued Media Matters for America on Monday. Reuters, which first reported the court filing, noted that X alleges the left-leaning media watchdog “defamed the platform after it published a report that said ads for major brands had appeared next to posts touting Nazism.”

Media Matters President Angelo Carusone hit back in a statement earlier on Monday, saying, “Elon Musk has spent the last few days making meritless legal threats, elevating bizarre conspiracy theories, and lobbing vicious personal attacks against his ‘enemies’ online. Even if he does not follow through with his threat to sue, the volatility of actions reinforce why major brands are rightly skittish of partnering with X.”

“We are going to continue our work undeterred. If he sues us, we will win,” Carusone added.

“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,” Musk wrote on X Saturday after Media Matters published an article reporting that X was running ads from major companies like IBM and Disney next to content promoting Nazism.

Musk wrote on X in reply to the filing being shared online, “The first of many,” appearing to claim more lawsuits were on their way.

Reuters reported the filing X alleges that Media Matters “manipulated” the platform. Musk’s threat to sue Media Matters included allegations that the organization sought to “misinform advertisers” on his platform, who make up some 90 percent of X’s revenue.

“This week Media Matters for America posted a story that completely misrepresented the real experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers,” Musk said in his initial statement.

X began to bleed advertisers at the end of last week following the article and Musk agreeing with a vehemently anti-Semitic post arguing that Jews had fueled hate against White people in the United States – a common trope and conspiracy theory pushed on the far-right.

In September, Musk also threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League, accusing the group of lowering his ad revenue by calling out anti-Semitism on the platform. Musk has yet to file any lawsuit against the civil rights organization.

A spokesperson for Media Matters had confirmed to Mediaite earlier in the evening that the organization had not been notified of any legal action taken against it by Elon Musk or his company Twitter/X despite the controversial billionaire promising to file first thing Monday morning.

Ari Drennen, a researcher at Media Matters, slammed Musk on Monday as it appeared he wouldn’t make good on the threat, writing, “Turns out that what Elon Musk meants [sic] by “thermonuclear lawsuit” is that he’ll tweet “Media Matters is evil” half a dozen times and then share a bunch of my pre-transition photos. Masterful gambit, sir.”

Update: This article has been updated with breaking news and a statement from the president of Media Matters.