A federal judge in Texas has ruled against Media Matters and its request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X.
Because of U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s decision on Thursday, X’s lawsuit against the nonprofit media watchdog and two of its staff members will proceed to trial on April 7.
X, formerly known as Twitter, originally filed the suit in November after Media Matters published a report showing that hateful content on the platform appeared next to online ads from companies like Apple, IBM and Disney. Those companies then paused their X advertising campaigns, the suit said.
Attorneys representing X claimed the Media Matters report was “intentionally deceptive” and financially damaged the company.
Media Matters President Angelo Carusone, one of the defendants, said at the time in a statement that the “frivolous lawsuit” was “meant to bully X’s critics into silence.”
O’Connor denied the nonprofit’s effort to have the case dismissed, saying in a filing that the plaintiff “has properly pled its claims.”
Media Matters and X didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
In August, O’Connor dismissed a request by Media Matters to force Musk to list Tesla as an interested party in X’s lawsuit against the nonprofit. O’Connor said at the time in a legal filing that “there is no evidence that shows Tesla has a direct financial interest in the outcome of this case.”
O’Connor was also overseeing a recently filed antitrust lawsuit by X against a global advertising association and its member companies like Unilever, Mars and CVS Health. O’Connor then recused himself from the lawsuit. Although he didn’t provide a reason for the recusal, a recent financial disclosure showed that the judge invests in Unilever.
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