Twitter (now known as X) is suing anti-hate speech group the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) for costing it ‘tens of millions of dollars’ in lost advertising revenue. The CCDH itself has dismissed the suit, saying that Musk will not “bully them into silence”.
The grievance in question pertains to research carried out on the social media platform by the CCDH which Musk claims has lead to 16 different advertisers pausing activity on Twitter.
Hate speech & lies soared on Twitter/X under @ElonMusk's watch.
Instead of addressing the issues, he's trying to silence CCDH.
Hear from @CevallosLaw on @NBCNews. #MuskMeltdown https://t.co/Smf2iOZ7JY
— Center for Countering Digital Hate (@CCDHate) August 3, 2023
Alarmingly, Twitter has lost 50% of its ad revenue since Elon Musk’s takeover in October last year, and the iconic social media service finds itself in dire straights. Some may view this latest lawsuit as a desperate attempt to recoup some of those losses.
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“Elon Musk’s latest legal threat is straight out of the authoritarian playbook – he is now showing he will stop at nothing to silence anyone who criticises him for his own decisions and actions,” CCDH CEO, Imran Ahmed, said in a statement.
“Musk is trying to ‘shoot the messenger’ who highlights the toxic content on his platform rather than deal with the toxic environment he’s created.”
The lawsuit accuses the UK based CCDH of ‘unlawfully’ gathering Twitter data to publish its allegedly ‘flawed’ research which claims that 99% of hate speech posted by a particular sample of Twitter Blue users went unchallenged.
