Elon Musk's Lawyers Quietly Subpoena Public Interest Groups

[orthoclad]

from Mother Jones, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/08/twitter-x-subpoenas-elon-musk/

Lawyers representing Elon Musk and X, previously known as Twitter, have quietly begun sending subpoenas to a host of public interest groups, Mother Jones has learned. Most of the targeted organizations have signed open letters to X’s advertisers expressing concerns about the platform’s direction under Musk’s leadership.

The groups include the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the digital rights organization Access Now, and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). The subpoenas represent a new chapter in the legal war Musk launched after advertisers fled X, and are part of a lawsuit Musk and X first filed about a year ago against Media Matters over a report it published documenting that ads appeared alongside extremist content. The subpoenas demand any correspondence the organizations have had with that progressive media watchdog group. Several targets told Mother Jones they’ve had no or limited interaction with Media Matters, and that the subpoenas feel, in the words of more than one person, like “a fishing expedition.”
...
While “it was very exciting,” he jokes, he says it is not something for which they can provide any responsive materials. “It’s a long convoluted subpoena looking for a bunch of stuff we don’t have. If we were enthusiastic Elon Musk fans who wanted to help him with his lawsuit against Media Matters, I don’t know what we’d give him.”
...
The company [X] filed in the Northern District of Texas, where it will appear before Judge Reed O’Connor, who holds $15,000 of stock in Tesla, Musk’s other company. (Earlier this week, Media Matters lost its bid to have O’Connor recuse himself.) Media Matters has also filed to dismiss the case, which O’Connor has not yet ruled on; in the meantime, he has ordered that Media Matters must comply with an expansive discovery request from X’s lawyers. Musk is also taking legal action against ad industry trade groups, accusing the organizations of engaging in an illegal group boycott against X. Seemingly in response to the suit, one of the groups, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, said it would discontinue its work.

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Much more material in the article.

The richest man in the world playing victim. Look up Judge O'Connor's record. Interesting that Musk found his court.

Evil is as evil does.

[c-rational]

1. Interesting. Not sure why a boycott, coordinated or not is illegal.

[GiqueCee]

2. I don't believe it is...

... but the legal costs of defending one's self could quickly bankrupt a small nonprofit.
Musk is a metastatic cancer.

[c-rational]

3. Thanks, makes sense.

[orthoclad]

4. Classic SLAPP tactics

From the wiki:

Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits),[1] or strategic litigation against public participation,[2] are lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.

He found a judge with a great right-wing record. In California there are laws against SLAPP. A good reason for a Bond villain to move to Texas. He's already lost one suit in California. The judge ruled that the suit sought to punish critics.

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media, GARM, an ad industry trade group, has already stopped its work. The suits are having their desired impact. A rep from one org, Free Speech, pointed out that Mr. Free Speech is going after anyone who criticizes him. Billionaire power at work stifling speech.

I fail to understand why anyone sane is still giving xitter clicks.