Elon Musk sues Media Matters, seeks damages from critical article

Despite missing another deadline, Elon Musk made good on his promise to sue "conservative misinformation" watchdog Media Matters over what he says is fraudulent coverage of X, formerly known as Twitter.

While Musk announced that he would launch a "thermonuclear" lawsuit against Media Matters "the split second court opens on Monday," he apparently waited until the afternoon to actually file a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas.

Related: Jim Cramer kicks Elon Musk while he's down after advertisers leave X

Over the weekend, at least seven major companies (including IBM  (IBM) - Get Free Report, Apple  (AAPL) - Get Free Report, Disney  (DIS) - Get Free Report, and Comcast  (CMCSA) - Get Free Report) announced that they were pausing advertising on the platform after a report from "conservative misinformation" watchdog Media Matters showed that advertisements were being placed next to racist, right-wing accounts with large followings — a major sticking point for advertisers on the platform since Musk took over. 

Musk's lawsuit counters that "users shape their own experiences on X," and that the journalist who wrote the original story created a sock puppet account that only followed fringe right-wing accounts (even though one of the accounts listed in the piece had 100,000 followers) and curated an experience that is not the norm for the average X user. 

The lawsuit seeks a judgment featuring unspecified damages, but one that represents "actual and consequential damages caused by defendants' misconduct, including but not limited to all general and special damages." Musk is also seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction ordering MM to "immediately delete, take down, or otherwise remove" the offending article. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also jumped into the fray Monday when his office announced that it was opening up an investigation into Media Matters for potential fraudulent activity. 

It was a chance for the embattled Paxton to attack Media Matters, which has often published negative coverage of the conservative AG. 

“We are examining the issue closely to ensure that the public has not been deceived by the schemes of radical left-wing organizations who would like nothing more than to limit freedom by reducing participation in the public square,” Paxton said while also saying that he was "extremely troubled" by the allegations against Media Matters, which he called a "radical anti-free speech organization."