In a recent development, X, the social media platform formerly recognized as Twitter, has initiated legal proceedings against a team of researchers. The platform contends that the researchers’ efforts, which brought attention to a surge in hate speech on X, led to substantial losses in advertising revenue for the company.
This lawsuit was officially lodged late on Monday night within the U.S. District Court situated in the Northern District of California. The core accusation made by X involves the nonprofit organization Center for Countering Digital Hate, asserting that the organization violated X’s terms of service by inappropriately amassing an extensive dataset for their analysis. Additionally, the lawsuit makes a claim, although unsupported by evidence, that the Center’s funding originates from foreign governments and media enterprises that perceive X as a competitive entity.
This legal clash between X, now under the ownership of Elon Musk following an acquisition last year, and the Center for Countering Digital Hate, holds the potential to bear significant ramifications. These consequences could reverberate across an increasing number of researchers and advocacy groups committed to aiding the public’s comprehension of the profound influence that social media wields over society and culture.
Maintaining offices both in the United States and the United Kingdom, the center frequently releases comprehensive reports regarding hate speech, extremism, and detrimental activities present on various social media platforms such as X, TikTok, and Facebook. Notably, the organization has issued multiple reports that cast a critical light on Musk’s stewardship, outlining a notable upsurge in instances of anti-LGBTQ hate speech alongside the dissemination of climate-related misinformation subsequent to his acquisition of the platform.
In the legal proceedings it has initiated, X asserts that the center breached its terms of service by engaging in automated data scraping from the platform without obtaining proper authorization from the company. X further alleges that the center gained unauthorized access to internal Twitter data by utilizing login credentials acquired from an employee affiliated with another company that maintains a business association with X.
While refraining from explicitly identifying any individuals or entities, the lawsuit states that the center receives financial support from foreign governments and entities connected to “legacy media organizations” that view X as a direct competitor.
The lawsuit contends that the center’s activities have resulted in substantial financial losses for X, estimating the impact to be in the realm of tens of millions of dollars in diminished advertising revenue.
In response to the legal action, Imran Ahmed, CEO and founder of the center, has staunchly defended its activities while also accusing Musk of utilizing the lawsuit as a means to stifle critiques of his leadership, as well as research pertaining to X’s role in disseminating misinformation and hate speech.
Ahmed asserted, “Musk is attempting to silence the messenger who highlights the presence of toxic content on his platform, instead of addressing the toxic environment that he has cultivated.”
Based on the center’s 2021 tax documents, it garnered a total revenue of $1.4 million. A perusal of its major contributors reveals the involvement of prominent charitable organizations such as the National Philanthropic Trust in the U.S., and the Oak Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust in the U.K.
A spokesperson for the center clarified that it does not receive financial support from any government entities or tech companies that might be considered competitors to X. The identities of other donors are not disclosed in publicly available records, and the center has chosen not to furnish a list of such contributors.
Musk, a self-declared advocate of unrestricted free speech, has welcomed back individuals associated with white supremacists and election deniers to the platform, which he recently rebranded as X. In an earlier tweet from last year, he had pledged to permit any form of expression on his platform that does not run afoul of legal constraints, asserting, “I hope that even my harshest critics remain on Twitter, because that is the essence of free speech.”
However, it’s worth noting that the billionaire has demonstrated occasional sensitivity when it comes to critical discourse aimed at him or his enterprises. In a notable instance, he suspended the accounts of a number of journalists who were reporting on his acquisition of Twitter.