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Elon Musk\u2019s lawsuit seeking damages from a left-leaning media watchdog group may proceed to trial, a U.S. federal district judge said on Thursday. The judge is an investor in Musk\u2019s electric car company, Tesla, but has not recused himself from the case.<\/p>\n
Musk sued Media Matters for America in November after the latter published a report<\/a>\u00a0that claimed Twitter<\/a> (now X) showed ads for major brands, including Disney<\/a>, next to\u00a0anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi content<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many companies then pulled their ad spending, prompting a\u00a0now-infamous outburst<\/a>\u00a0from Musk in which the entrepreneur told advertisers to collectively \u201cgo fuck yourself<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n He also took to social media to threaten \u201cthermonuclear<\/a>\u201d consequences for anyone who \u201ccolluded in this fraudulent attack on our company.\u201d<\/p>\n The ruling dismisses a motion filed by the defendant arguing Musk as the plaintiff failed to present proper cause and engaged in blatant venue shopping by enlisting a jurisdiction in which neither X nor Media Matters is based.<\/p>\n In the ruling, Judge Reed O\u2019Connor agreed with Musk\u2019s argument that Texas was sufficiently entitled to decide the dispute, since Media Matters had targeted among other companies those headquartered in the Northern District of Texas, including AT&T. That was enough to meet the threshold for pursuing damages under tort law, the judge determined, since existing jurisprudence made no distinction as to whether other venues might in fact be more proper.<\/p>\n \u201cA defendant who targets a Texas company with tortious activity has fair warning that it may be sued there,\u201d\u00a0concluded<\/a> O\u2019Connor, throwing out the dismissal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Media Matters could not be immediately reached by Fortune<\/em> for comment.<\/p>\n The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company pic.twitter.com\/55vl7PspaQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yet the circumstances of the lawsuit are not as clear-cut as they would seem. Musk has repeatedly filed claims in the Northern District of Texas in what legal experts have said is a\u00a0clear attempt to land O\u2019Connor<\/a>\u00a0as the presiding judge.\u00a0<\/p>\n In their view, Musk is shopping for a judge most sympathetic to his cause in a state that will allow him to\u00a0silence would-be critics<\/a>,\u00a0not just in Texas but nationwide.<\/p>\n Musk also chose O\u2019Connor\u2019s Northern District when suing the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM)\u00a0earlier this month<\/a>, claiming members of the advertising standards body unlawfully conspired against buying ads on his platform. At the time many experts<\/a> argued the case was dubious at best, and potentially designed to entangle defendants in legal fees so costly they served as a deterrent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Surprisingly, however, O\u2019Connor\u00a0recused himself<\/a>\u00a0in the case of GARM without explanation shortly after NPR revealed he might be conflicted since he owned Tesla stock<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the judicial system that Musk can rely on in Texas for support, a state executive has taken his side as well.<\/p>\n Immediately after the Tesla<\/a> CEO filed his lawsuit, state Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into Media Matters, with Musk\u00a0warning<\/a>\u00a0it would now also face criminal consequences. (A federal judge later\u00a0stopped it.<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cElon Musk encouraged Republican state attorneys general to use their power to harass their critics and stifle reporting about X,\u201d Media Matters president Angelo Carusone said in a statement in April.\u00a0<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s lawsuits have proved effective when it comes to draining defendants of their financial resources. Earlier this month GARM\u00a0shut its doors<\/a>, while Media Matters laid off a dozen staffers in May, including Katherine Abughazaleh, a vocal\u00a0critic of Musk<\/a>\u00a0with a large social media following.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re confronting a legal assault on multiple fronts, and given how rapidly the media landscape is shifting, we need to be extremely intentional about how we allocate resources in order to stay effective,\u201d Carusone told\u00a0Newsweek\u00a0<\/em>at the time<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fortune<\/em> has contacted Musk and O\u2019Connor for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
GARM lawsuit confirms suspicion Musk shopped for sympathetic judge<\/h2>\n
Criminal charges dropped, but legal costs force Media Matters to sack staff<\/h2>\n
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