Elon Musk threatened to sue a nonprofit group that researches misinformation in social media, alleging that it had lied about Twitter (which Musk recently renamed X) and hateful speech on the platform.
Musk's lawyers sent the letter to the Center for Countering Digital Hate on July 20, but the letter was released on Monday, according to the New York Times. The letter claims that the center made false statements about Twitter in eight papers in the last year. These included a report alleging that Twitter had taken no content moderation against the vast majority of Twitter Blue accounts that the center identified as "tweeting hate."
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The letter accuses the center of making "a series of troubling and baseless claims that appear calculated to harm X generally, and its digital advertising business specifically." It also alleged that the center was funded by X competitors "in support of an ulterior agenda."
"Elon Musk's actions represent a brazen attempt to silence honest criticism and independent research," Center for Countering Digital Hate CEO Imran Amhed said.
Musk's lawyers have been busy issuing threats in the last two months. Musk sent a letter in June to Meta, alleging that it had copied trade secrets in the construction of Instagram Threads. It also sent a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella alleging the improper use of X data.
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Musk hired Linda Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal advertising executive, as the company's new CEO in June to take the lead on the company's initiative to turn into an "everything app."
X is also facing legal pressure through several lawsuits. Former X employees filed a class action lawsuit against the business in mid-July, alleging that Musk's promise to pay a specific severance package violated the company's previous severance plan. X's finance chief filed a similar suit in June, alleging the company did not pay "tens of millions of dollars" in promised bonus payments.