A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by billionaire Elon Musk and his company X against the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The lawsuit alleged that CCDH spread misleading claims about hate and extremism on their platform, causing Musk and X to lose “tens of millions of dollars” due to their research.
The allegations included illegal data scraping and breaking platform rules through a third-party monitoring tool. Musk even went as far as calling CCDH “an evil propaganda machine” in replies on social media.
CCDH filed a motion to dismiss under California’s SLAPP law, accusing Musk of drawing out the legal process to increase costs. United States district judge Charles R. Breyer granted CCDH’s motion to dismiss and denied the opportunity to relitigate the case.
CCDH’s research has highlighted the rise of hate speech on platforms following Musk’s takeover of Twitter. The nonprofit focuses on researching trends in hate speech, extremism, and misinformation on social networks.
The legal team representing CCDH included Roberta Kaplan, who has had previous success in cases against figures like Donald Trump. CCDH’s CEO Imran Ahmed celebrated the court ruling as an affirmation of their right to research and speak out against harmful content.
Meanwhile, Musk is still pursuing a similar lawsuit against Media Matters for America in Texas, where there are fewer protections against frivolous lawsuits compared to California. It remains to be seen how this legal battle will unfold in a different jurisdiction.
