During a court hearing on Thursday, lawyers representing X Corp. and a research institution focused on online hate speech presented their opposing views. This came after the social media company filed a lawsuit against the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate, citing their findings of a rise in hate speech on the platform since its acquisition by Elon Musk.

The company X, previously referred to as Twitter, claims that the center’s scientists broke the site’s user agreement by inappropriately gathering public posts, resulting in X losing millions of dollars when advertisers left due to its subsequent reports on the increase of hateful language.

During a court hearing in San Francisco on Thursday, Judge Charles Breyer of the United States District Court expressed doubt as he questioned the attorney for X about the violation of platform rules by merely reporting on posts that were already publicly accessible.

“I can’t think of anything basically more antithetical to the First Amendment than this process of silencing people from publicly disseminating information once it’s been published,” Breyer said during back-and-forth with X’s attorney.

Researchers who specialize in studying social media are closely monitoring this case as it pertains to the impact it has on shaping and mirroring public conversations.

X, a company based in San Francisco, has brought a lawsuit against the center in the Northern District of California. They claim that the center’s researchers collected a large amount of data for their analysis in an improper manner by using third-party software to “scrape” the site. Jon Hawk, an attorney for X, stated that these actions went against the terms of service that all users are required to agree to.

The company is pursuing financial restitution in the millions to make up for the advertising revenue lost, as well as the time and effort spent by staff in investigating the methodology used by the center for its reports.

Hawk explained that once the report was published and advertisers had a chance to review it, they ceased their spending.

Lawyer John Quinn, representing the researchers, stated that they solely utilized automated search tools to examine publicly accessible posts on the site. He also argued that X’s legal action is a flawed attempt to suppress its detractors.

Quinn stated that utilizing a search function to view tweets in light of the situation is a challenging argument to support.

The nonprofit, headquartered in both the United States and United Kingdom, frequently releases reports on detrimental conduct, radicalism, and hate speech found on social media networks such as X, TikTok, and Facebook.

The company has released multiple reports that criticize Musk’s leadership, highlighting a rise in hate speech against LGBTQ individuals and the spread of climate misinformation following his acquisition.

Other than the center, there have been mentions of the increase in offensive content on X following Musk’s acquisition in October 2022. In November of last year, major advertisers such as IBM, NBCUniversal, and its parent company Comcast, announced they were no longer advertising on X after a report from the liberal advocacy organization Media Matters revealed their ads were being displayed alongside content that praised Nazis. This was another obstacle for X in regaining the trust of prominent brands and their advertising funds, which are X’s primary source of income. X has also filed a lawsuit against Media Matters.

During the same month, Musk expressed his frustration with advertisers who stopped spending on X due to the presence of antisemitic and hateful material. He accused them of engaging in “blackmail” and, using explicit language, essentially told them to leave.

A motion to dismiss X’s lawsuit was filed by the center, resulting in the calling of a hearing on Thursday. Breyer stated that he will carefully consider the motion.

Musk is known for his firm belief in unrestricted free speech and has allowed white supremacists and those who deny the validity of the election to return to the platform, which he changed the name of to X last year. He had initially pledged to permit all forms of speech on his platform unless it violated the law. Last year, Musk tweeted, “I hope that even those who criticize me most harshly remain on Twitter, because that is the essence of free speech.”

Despite this, the millionaire has shown that he can be easily offended by negative comments about himself or his businesses. In the past, he suspended the social media accounts of multiple journalists who reported on his acquisition of Twitter.

Source: wral.com