Judge dismisses lawsuit by Musk's X against nonprofit researchers tracking hate speech on platform

abcnews.go.com:

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s X Corp. against the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate, which has documented the increase in hate speech on the site since it was purchased by the Tesla owner

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Elon Musk's X Corp. against the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate, which has documented the increase in hate speech on the site since it was acquired by the Tesla owner.

X, formerly known as Twitter, had argued the center’s researchers violated the site’s terms of service by improperly compiling public tweets, and that its subsequent reports on the rise of hate speech cost X millions of dollars when advertisers fled.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer dismissed the suit, writing in his order that it was “unabashedly and vociferously about one thing" — punishing the nonprofit for its speech.

X had alleged that the nonprofit “scraped” its site for data, which is against its terms of service. But the judge found that X failed to “allege losses based on technological harms” — that is, the company didn't show how the scraping led to financial losses for X.

X had sought millions of dollars in damages, arguing that the nonprofit’s reports led to the exodus of advertisers and the loss of ad revenue.

But the judge agreed with CCDH’s argument saying X cannot seek damages for the independent acts of third parties based on CCDH’s reports, or its “speech.”

The center is a nonprofit with offices in the U.S. and United Kingdom. It regularly publishes reports on hate speech, extremism or harmful behavior on social media platforms like X, TikTok or Facebook. The organization has published several reports critical of Musk’s leadership,