It’s the second time a Republican attorney general has sued the group.
A Republican attorney general is suing a private media watchdog organization after it issued a report on hate speech on X (formerly Twitter), which many on the right took to be an attack on transphobic billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of X.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey sued Media Matters for allegedly refusing to turn over internal documents related to its 2023 report on the rise of hate speech on X. Media Matters has called Bailey’s lawsuit “meritless, expensive, and harassing.”
Media Matters released a November 2023 report detailing how ads for major brands on X appeared next to user-generated neo-Nazi content. Musk called the report “bogus.” Bailey’s lawsuit marks the second time a Republican AG has sued the group on Musk’s behalf, signaling the political party’s increasing willingness to use the levers of institutional power to persecute organizations for criticizing right-wing figures.
There’s a very narrow scope where they are allowed, but that’s when the speech is intended to incite imminent lawless action (like starting a riot).