The far-left organization Media Matters has laid off at least a dozen employees amid a federal investigation and lawsuit by Elon Musk.
Media Matters has long sought to control public discourse on social media by targeting advertisers and pressuring them to pull their ads over conservative content. This leads to platforms cracking down on right-wing discussions. The organization also targets conservative outlets and websites using the same tactic to try and drive them out of business.
On Thursday, several Media Matters employees took to X to announce they had been laid off.
“Bad News: I’ve been laid off from @mmfa, along with a dozen colleagues. There’s a reason far-right billionaires attack Media Matters with armies of lawyers: They know how effective our work is, and it terrifies them (him),” former Media Matters employee Kat Abughazaleh wrote, referring to Musk. Bad News: I’ve been laid off from @mmfa, along with a dozen colleagues.
There’s a reason far-right billionaires attack Media Matters with armies of lawyers: They know how effective our work is, and it terrifies them (him).
— Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) May 23, 2024
“After nearly four years of working at media matters, I got laid off,” another laid-off staffer wrote. “So if anyone is looking for researchers with video experience, drop a line.” After nearly four years of working at media matters, I got laid off. So if anyone is looking for researchers with video experience, drop a line.
— Bee (@mount_bees) May 23, 2024
“Journalism milestone achieved (got laid off),” former writer Bobby Lewis wrote. journalism milestone achieved (got laid off)
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) May 23, 2024
"I got laid off from Media Matters @mmfa today, proud of the 5 years of intense work I put into fighting right-wing hatred. I’m an incredible manager with superb research skills. Please hire me!” associate research director Alex Peterson posted. I got laid off from Media Matters @mmfa today, proud of the 5 years of intense work I put into fighting right-wing hatred.
I'm an incredible manager with superb research skills. Please hire me!
— Alex Paterson (@AlexPattyy) May 23, 2024
Musk filed a lawsuit against Media Matters in November. The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company pic.twitter.com/55vl7PspaQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2023
“Looking to portray X’s social networking platform as being dominated by ‘white nationalist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories,’ Media Matters knowingly and maliciously manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers’ posts on X Corp.’s social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white-nationalist fringe content and then portrayed these manufactured images as if they were what typical X users experience on the platform,” the lawsuit states.
Media Matters published a report on November 16 claiming that X was placing ads from major companies next to "pro-Nazi content." This led to NBC, Apple, Disney, IBM, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Lionsgate quickly pulling their ads from the platform.
X executive Joe Benarroch quickly debunked the reporting, explaining that a Media Matters reporter had created accounts and gamed the X server to create false impressions for their article, but the damage had already been done.
Republican Attorneys General Ken Paxton of Texas and Andrew Bailey of Missouri also launched probes into the organization over the smear campaign to get advertisers to leave X.
