A judge has temporarily blocked an attempt by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to learn more about a progressive news organization. Paxton wanted to know how it made decisions about its coverage of the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The attorney general alleges that Media Matters for America manipulated data on X in order to ruin the platform’s advertising business. And that, Paxton says, is a violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Tech expert Omar Gallaga says the case began when Elon Musk, who owns X, sued Media Matters.
Highlights from this segment:
– Media Matters for America bills itself as a progressive media watchdog. The group alerted advertisers on X that their messages were appearing next to pro-Nazi posts on the platform.
– Elon Musk made public statements dismissing the juxtaposition of ads with controversial content, and sued Media Matters for what he viewed as attempts to harm X.
– Twitter is not headquartered in Texas, but Several of Musk’s businesses, including Tesla and SpaceX, have large footprints in the state.
– When Paxton sued Media Matters, he sought a wide array of documents from the group during the discovery process, including notes on how Media Matters made coverage decisions, and more. A U.S. district judge denied Paxton’s request, agreeing with the progressive group that such discovery created a chilling effect on the media organization.
