Why has Elon Musk sued Center for Countering Digital Hate? Here's everything you need to know

Aug 2, 2023, 13:38 EDT

According to X, the claims of the Center for Countering Digital Hate relating to hate speech on X have actually led advertisers to halt investment, thereby causing loss to the business of the company. Here's everything you are required to know about the story.

Why has X sued CCDH?
Why has X sued CCDH?

Formerly called Twitter, platform X filed a suit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) recently on July 31. The Center for Countering Digital Hate is actually a non-profit organization, and its latest reports have suggested an escalation in hate speech on the platform, ever since Musk started heading it in the month of October last year.

Earlier, before filing the suit, the social media site wrote a letter to the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The letter threatened the non-profit with a legal suit, as per a Public Broadcasting Service report. On the other side, the Center for Countering Digital Hate accused the platform of intimidating groups who hold the courage to advocate against hate speech, harmful content, and incitement.

 

Understanding the reason behind the legal suit

It was through a blog post that came forward on Monday that the social media platform expressed the lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The post said that the CCDH's claims over hate speech on X have actually “encouraged advertisers to pause investment”, which led them to suffer commercial harm.

It read that despite the continued progress of X, the CCDH, along with its backers has been increasingly working to put misleading and false claims, thereby encouraging advertisers to put a halt on investment in the platform. The post also said that X is a free public service, mainly backed by the funding of advertisers. It read that the scare campaign by CCDH and its continued pressure on brands to prevent public dialogue.

It was stated by American National Public Radio that X accused the Center for Countering Digital Hate of inducing breach of contract, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, breach of contract, and willful interference with contractual relations, in its court filing.

“Twitter is informed and believes, and on that basis alleges, that CCDH is being supported by funding from X Corp.’s commercial competitors, as well as government entities and their affiliates,” said the filing.

 

The response of CCDH

The CCDH expressed through a statement on Tuesday that the legal suit against the organization filed by Elon Musk was actually a card of an authoritarian playbook. The statement said that Elon Musk is aiming at shooting the messenger who actually underlines the toxic content on X, instead of dealing with the toxic environment created by him. In the statement the organization also clarified that it is not planning to stop its independent research and X's owner will not be able to bully the non-profit organization into silence.

 

Research findings by CCDH

Recently, a myriad of research papers have been published by CCDH relating to hate speech on X. The most recent research paper was published on June 1. The research stated that X does not succeed in taking action against most of the hate posted by the Twitter Blue subscribers. The research read that this move is actually “suggesting that the platform is allowing them to break its rules with impunity and is even algorithmically boosting their toxic tweets.”

The report also stated that there wasn't any action taken against tweets that contained homophobic, racist, antisemitic, or neo-Nazi content.

Earlier, another research posted by the organization said that ever since Musk took over the platform, there has been an increase in hateful content, specifically against the LGBTQ+ community on the social media platform.

ALSO READ: A French adventurer passed away during a stunt. Who was Remi Lucidi?

Astha Pasricha
Astha Pasricha

Content Writer

    Astha Pasricha is a content writing professional with experience in writing rich and engaging content for websites, blogs, and chatbots. She is a graduate of Journalism and Mass Communication and English Honors. She has previously worked with organizations like Groomefy, Shiksha.com, Upside Me, EGlobal Soft Solutions and Codeflies Technologies Pvt. Ltd. At Jagran Josh, she writes content for the General Knowledge section. You can reach her at astha.pasricha@jagrannewmedia.com.
    ... Read More

    FAQs

    • Why has Elon Musk sued Center for Countering Digital Hate?
      +
      The social media platform, X, believes that CCDH's claims in the hate speech on X have actually “encouraged advertisers to pause investment”, which led them to suffer commercial harm. This is why Elon Musk sued Center for Countering Digital Hate.

    Trending Tags