By Jody Godoy
(Reuters) -Media Matters asked a court on Monday to block the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s probe into whether media watchdogs coordinated advertising boycotts, calling it retaliation for the group’s criticism of Elon Musk, a major donor to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
The FTC demanded Media Matters hand over communications with other groups that evaluate misinformation and hate speech and documents related to lawsuits where Musk’s social media platform, X, has accused some groups of orchestrating advertiser boycotts.
Media Matters, a Washington, D.C.-based liberal advocacy group, said there is no basis to accuse it of coordinating a boycott, and that the FTC’s demands have chilled its ability to publish articles on the agency and Musk.
“The Court should put an end to the latest effort by the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s government allies to punish, intimidate, and harass Media Matters for publishing reporting they do not like,” the group said.
The FTC probe, first reported by Reuters on May 22, marked an escalation in U.S. government scrutiny into whether groups like Media Matters helped advertisers coordinate to pull ad dollars from X after Musk bought the social media site formerly known as Twitter in 2022.
Media Matters said in its lawsuit on Monday that the court should block the request, as it did similar investigations by Republican attorneys general in Texas and Missouri.
X sued Media Matters in 2023, accusing the organization of defaming it in an article that said ads for major brands had appeared next to posts on X that touted far-right extremist content.
Media Matters has denied the allegations, and sued X earlier this year, accusing it of abusive, costly and meritless lawsuits to punish the group for its reporting on advertising on X after Musk purchased the site.
The Media Matters said it found advertisements by IBM, Apple, Oracle and Comcast’s Xfinity placed alongside posts touting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.
“X initiated a vendetta-driven campaign of libel tourism, spanning three jurisdictions in three countries, all arising from the same conduct: Media Matters’ use of X’s platform in accordance with X’s Terms of Service and its truthful reporting on the results,” the complaint said.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
