· Court filing
X sues hate-speech researchers CCDH; judge dismisses suit, saying it aimed to punish their speech
What he said or did
X Corp sued the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) in San Francisco federal court, alleging it illegally scraped data and cherry-picked posts in a scare campaign to drive away advertisers.
X sought damages and an order barring CCDH from its data.
Background
CCDH had published reports saying hate speech increased on the platform after Musk's takeover and that X failed to act on reported posts.
Official response
CCDH said By threatening us, Musk is trying to hide the truth about his own failures.
CEO Imran Ahmed later called the suit a hypocritical campaign of harassment.
Fact-checks and findings
Judge Breyer wrote that the suit was unabashedly and vociferously
about punishing the Defendants for their speech.
What happened next
On 25 March 2024 Judge Charles Breyer dismissed the case, granting CCDH's motion under California's anti-SLAPP law. X said it disagrees with the court's decision and plans to appeal
and appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which heard argument on 30 September 2026; as of mid-October 2026 no decision had been reported.
Sources
- Fortune1 Aug 2023
- Associated Press (via WDIV ClickOnDetroit)25 Mar 2024
- Axios25 Mar 2024
This entry records what was publicly said or done, as reported by the sources above. Quotes are attributed to the person who made them.
