posted<\/a>. \u201cMedia Matters was not lying.\u201d WIRED was not able to replicate these results, and it appears as though ads are no longer running against this and similar terms.<\/p>\nTaking aim at nonprofits, Ahmed says, might backfire on Musk. \u201cI think it\u2019s really important that people understand that this is a man that you\u2019re doing business with, and that if you advertise on that platform, you\u2019re essentially endorsing the behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Musk took the helm at X, the company has seen a steep decline in advertising revenue, which comprised about 90 percent of its revenue at the time of purchase.<\/p>\n
One of Musk\u2019s first moves as owner was to lay off nearly everyone at the company working on trust and safety\u2014the roles that ensure that hate speech, disinformation, nudity, violence, and other inappropriate content are kept off the platform. And as many experts feared, hate speech did increase after Musk took over. In response, some advertisers have pulled their spend on X amid fears the platform is high-risk.<\/p>\n
In an attempt to right the ship, X brought on now-CEO Linda Yaccarino, an experienced advertising executive from NBCUniversal. But Musk has remained the focal point of X, and though the company said in October that it was seeing some of its marquee advertisers return, a different study from MMFA found that these advertisers were spending 90 percent less than they had before Musk took over the company.<\/p>\n
Shannon Jankowski, interim director for US free expression at the nonprofit PEN America, claims that X\u2019s choice to file its suit in Texas is \u201carbitrarily choosing a venue that\u2019s known to be conservative, that\u2019s likely to favor Elon Musk and X.\u201d Texas laws that prevent \u201cstrategic lawsuits against public participation,\u201d or SLAPP lawsuits, do not apply in federal court, she adds, meaning that it will be more difficult for MMFA to get the case dismissed or recover any legal fees from X.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can bankrupt those organizations to try to get rid of these lawsuits,\u201d Jankowski says.<\/p>\n
But whether or not X\u2019s lawsuit is successful, or the Texas Attorney General\u2019s investigation returns anything, Jankowski worries it will hamper future accountability work. \u201cIf he can just file a frivolous lawsuit in a conservative venue, and then potentially trigger government-level investigations, it\u2019s just really going to deter organizations from wanting to dive into this work.\u201d<\/p>\n
William Turton contributed reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n