A Texas judge on Thursday denied Media Matters for America’s request to dismiss and allowed X’s lawsuit alleging anti-Semitic and racist content. The Verge Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas denied X’s motion to dismiss, which would have allowed his lawsuit against Media Matters to continue.
Media Matters filed a motion to dismiss in X’s case in early March on the grounds of “personal jurisdiction,” “improper venue” and “failure to state a claim.” O’Connor denied all these allegations court records.
A lawsuit has been filed last year a federal court is seeking damages from the media watchdog over “maliciously crafted” images, saying X’s platform placed neo-Nazi and white nationalist content next to advertisers’ images, causing advertisers to flee the site. The Media Matters images used were not produced, but X’s claim is that the social media giant was irreparably damaged by its attempt to use certain accounts to post racist ads to bypass ad filters.
X owner Elon Musk’s other companies are based in Texas, but are not directly related to the Media Matters lawsuit. X closed it San Francisco offices Earlier this month and owner Elon Musk announced in July X’s headquarters will move to Austin. Tesla In 2021, it moved its headquarters from California to the Lone Star State and SpaceX Delaware Earlier this year, a judge threw out a $56 billion settlement package from the state.
Rejecting the personal jurisdiction argument, however, O’Connor noted that two of X’s “blue chip” advertisers are covered by Media Matters, such as AT&T and Oracle. He cited the landmark Internet defamation case of 2002 Revell v. Lidov Citing the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that “if you’re going to pick a fight in the state of Texas, it’s reasonable to expect it to be settled there.”
