Elon Musk “made good on his promise to sue Media Matters, filing a federal lawsuit that accuses the left-leaning watchdog group and one of its reporters of doctoring images in an article that showed ads for major corporations next to posts depicting hate speech on X, Musk’s social media platform formerly known as Twitter,” reports Politico.

According to Politico: “In a complaint filed in a Texas federal court, lawyers for X argued that Media Matters “knowingly and maliciously manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers’ posts” on X. The lawsuit alleges that the images and the media promotion of that research were done with the intention “to drive advertisers from the platform and destroy” X, citing “a blatant smear campaign” against the company over the last year.

“Musk’s lawsuit is the latest of his battles with regulators, advocates and advertisers, which have pointed to a rise in hate speech on the platform since he bought it last October and hollowed out its content moderation staff. The tech billionaire also sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate in August after it reported a rise in hate speech on the platform. Musk also threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League a month later amid an ad slump for which he placed blamed on the group’s “pressure on advertisers.””

Media Matters is based in Washington, D.C.

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