‘ATTEMPT TO SILENCE’

Twitter Threatens Legal Action Against Online Hate Research Group

X Corp.’s lawyers accused the nonprofit of a “campaign to drive advertisers off Twitter by smearing the company and its owner.”

Twitter’s parent company has threatened a group that monitors online hate speech with legal action, arguing that the nonprofit is attempting to “harm Twitter’s business by driving advertisers away from the platform with incendiary claims.” X Corp. sent a letter dated July 20 to Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) accusing the group of making claims that are “false, misleading, or both” about hate speech on Twitter. It also accused the CCDH of running a “campaign to drive advertisers off Twitter by smearing the company and its owner” and claimed there was “reason to believe” the CCDH is being funded by “from X Corp.’s commercial competitors, as well as government entities and their affiliates.” In a statement, the CCDH said: “Elon Musk’s actions represent a brazen attempt to silence honest criticism and independent research in the desperate hope that he can stem the tide of negative stories and rebuild his relationship with advertisers.”