Online Hate Research Center Faces Legal Threat from Musk

Elon Musk has been accused of attempting to silence the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) through threats of a lawsuit. This nonprofit organization claims that hate speech on Twitter increased following Musk’s acquisition of the company. According to the New York Times, the CCDH recently received a letter from Twitter’s parent company, which accused them of making baseless claims to harm Twitter and its digital advertising business. The letter also threatened legal action under trademark law and accused the center of conducting misleading research funded by foreign governments in support of an undisclosed agenda.

The letter also falsely accused the center of being funded by Twitter’s competitors, although they have published critical reports about platforms like Facebook and TikTok, as reported by the AP. Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the CCDH, expressed his astonishment at the social media company’s aggressive stance, stating that this is an unprecedented escalation against independent researchers. Ahmed emphasized that if Musk succeeds in silencing their organization, other researchers will likely face similar consequences. The center explicitly denies receiving funding from both governments and social media companies.

One of CCDH’s reports, cited in the letter by X Corp lawyer Alex Spiro, highlighted the failure of Twitter to remove 99 out of 100 posts promoting hate within a four-day period, including one that endorsed Hitler. In response, lawyer Roberta Kaplan argued that there was no legitimate legal claim and that the threat of legal action was merely an attempt to suppress honest criticism, as reported by the Guardian. Kaplan also criticized Twitter’s current leadership for their contradictory behavior regarding the supposed commitment to free speech. (Read more Twitter stories.)