What's happened
X, owned by Elon Musk, sues Media Matters for defamation over claims of ads appearing next to extremist content.
Why it matters
The lawsuit highlights the ongoing controversy over ad placement and extremist content on social media platforms, and the potential impact on freedom of speech and advertising revenue.
What the papers say
The Times emphasizes Musk's endorsement of an antisemitic post and the subsequent backlash, while South China Morning Post focuses on the lawsuit and the response from Media Matters. Al Jazeera and BBC News provide details of the lawsuit and the allegations against Media Matters. The Guardian and New York Times highlight the exodus of advertisers and Musk's threat of a 'thermonuclear lawsuit'. AP News and The Independent cover the lawsuit and the impact on advertisers. Politico reports on the lawsuit and the response from Media Matters.
How we got here
The controversy began when Media Matters for America reported finding ads for major brands displayed with extremist content on X, leading to an exodus of advertisers and prompting Musk's endorsement of an antisemitic post.
More on these topics
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Media Matters for America is a politically left-leaning 501, nonprofit organization which acts as media watchdog for scrutinizing right-leaning media outlets.
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Elon Reeve Musk FRS is an engineer, industrial designer, technology entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder, CEO, CTO and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-foun
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Twitter is an American microblogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and retweet tweets, but unregistered users can only read them.
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International Business Machines Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York. It was founded in 1911 in Endicott, New York as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company and was renamed "International Busine