Media Matters is facing another legal battle over alleged attempts to trick advertisers into pulling money from what they call “extreme speech.” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has put the company on notice of a new investigation with this letter.
Media Matters is already facing a federal lawsuit from X alleging that the company engaged in “coordinated, inauthentic behavior on X to manipulate algorithms, defame the organization, and influence advertisers to withdraw their support, thereby harming free speech. The lawsuit accuses Media Matters of misleading the public and soliciting charitable donations under false pretenses.”
The Missouri investigation demands that Media Matters retain all records pertaining to fundraising and coordinating this interference of the social network formerly known as Twitter.
In a nutshell, they say that Media Matters makes it seem like extreme speech is happening on Twitter and bullies big companies like Apple to pull ads on that false premise. The aim is to collapse these platforms in order to silence conversations that they don’t like.
Media Matters says that they haven’t done this but now it will be up to them to prove it.