Feds Probe Media Matters Over Plot To Defund Musk’s X, Silence Dissenting Voices

Federal regulators on Thursday launched a probe into leftist “watchdog” Media Matters over reports that it illegally coordinated advertiser boycotts against Elon Musk’s X platform.

Media Matters for America, a non-profit funded by various leftist institutions and billionaires, including George Soros, has had the mission to deplatform and drive advertisers away from conservative voices since it was founded in 2004.

The Federal Trade Commission demanded documents regarding Media Matters’ communications with similar “watchdogs” dedicated to labeling conservative content as hate speech and misinformation.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, appointed by President Donald Trump, signaled potential action in December, stating the agency “must prosecute any unlawful collusion between online platforms, and confront advertiser boycotts which threaten competition,” Reuters reported.

Musk’s X sued Media Matters in 2023 after the liberal group published an article claiming that X was placing ads for major corporations such as Apple, Disney, and Comcast alongside Nazi-related content.

A press release from Musk at the time said that the Media Matters story “completely misrepresented the real user experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers.”

Musk accused the group of creating a “contrived” experience by using an alternate account to curate what posts appeared on the timeline.

In fact, according to Musk, X logs indicated that of the 5.5 billion ad impressions the day Media Matters pulled its research from, less than 50 were served alongside the content highlighted by Media Matters.

“Despite our clear and consistent position, X has seen a number of attacks from activist groups like Media Matters and legacy media outlets who seek to undermine freedom of expression on our platform because they perceive it as a threat to their ideological narrative and those of their financial supporters,” Musk’s release said.

The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company pic.twitter.com/55vl7PspaQ

— Kekius Maximus (@elonmusk) November 18, 2023

Attorneys representing X described the report as “intentionally deceptive” as a means to cause the company financial harm.

Media Matters has denied these allegations and countersued X.

In a similar case, X sued the World Federation of Advertisers and several other brands for participating in an illegal conspiracy to curtail ad spending on X, the lawsuit states, per the New York Post.

The plaintiffs denied Musk’s accusations, arguing that each individual brand had concerns with X’s policies that led to their suspension of advertising.

The FTC’s demand represents a significant escalation in the case of Media Matters, shifting the dispute from civil litigation to potential government enforcement action.

Musk, a major contributor to Trump’s 2024 campaign and head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative, has seen advertising on X decline since his 2022 acquisition, with Apple and IBM immediately pausing all ads on X following the 2023 Media Matters article.

However, research firm Emarketer projects spending will increase in 2025, per Reuters.

Since taking over Twitter in 2022, Musk has made sweeping changes to content moderation policies, reinstated previously banned accounts, and introduced a paid verification system. The billionaire has frequently criticized what he characterizes as a “woke mind virus” affecting media and technology companies.