A federal judge in Texas has ruled against Media Matters’ request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor made the decision Thursday, rejecting the media watchdog's bid to halt the lawsuit and allowing the case to proceed to trial on April 7.
X, formerly known as Twitter, filed the lawsuit in November after Media Matters published a report claiming that hateful content on the platform appeared alongside ads from major companies like Apple, IBM, and Disney. Following the report, those companies paused their advertising campaigns on X, according to the lawsuit.
Attorneys for X argued that the report was “intentionally deceptive” and had caused financial harm to the company. Judge O’Connor ruled that X had properly presented its claims, clearing the way for the case to move forward. Both X and Media Matters declined to comment on the decision.
Earlier this month, O’Connor had also dismissed a request by Media Matters to have Musk’s other company, Tesla, listed as an interested party in the lawsuit. The judge found no evidence of Tesla having a direct financial stake in the outcome of the case.
O’Connor had been overseeing a separate antitrust lawsuit filed by X against an advertising association and companies like Unilever, Mars, and CVS Health, but he recused himself from that case due to his financial interest in Unilever. He did not provide an explanation for the recusal.
Read the court order here.
