Twitter has filed a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit organization that has voiced criticism of the company’s response to hate speech, alleging that CCDH is attempting to deter businesses from using the platform.
The hate speech monitor is accused in the case of “using flawed methodologies to advance incorrect, misleading narratives.” In an earlier statement on its website, the CCDH said that “Musk’s lawyers have threatened CCDH with baseless legal action over our work exposing the rise in hate & lies on Twitter.”
The lawsuit, according to CCDH, is an effort to stifle criticism and independent study and serves only as a mirror to Twitter’s platform, revealing the rise in hatred and misinformation.
X Says…
A free public service called X is mostly supported by advertising. The CCDH is aggressively seeking to stop public discourse through its fear campaign and continual pressure on corporations to restrict public access to free expression.
According to the American National Public Radio (NPR), X accused the CCDH of contract breach, contravening the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, intentionally interfering with contractual relationships, and instigating a breach of contract in its court petition.
“Despite our continued progress, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and its backers have been actively working to assert false and misleading claims encouraging advertisers to pause investment on the platform.”
The CCDH has released a ton of studies on hate speech on X in recent months. On June 1st, the most current one was released. According to the report, 91% of hate speech uploaded by Twitter Blue subscribers goes unchallenged by X, “suggesting that the platform is allowing them to break its rules with impunity and is even algorithmically boosting their toxic tweets.”
Accusations And Reactions
By inappropriately gathering information about Twitter that it had sent to a third-party brand monitoring supplier and by urging an unknown person to do so, it is expressly claimed that CCDH violated both Twitter’s terms of service and federal hacking statutes.
In this case, CCDH is charged with running a broad effort to intimidate Twitter users by drawing attention to the opinions they express on social media.
Imran Ahmed, the CEO of CCDH, responded to the charges in the complaint on Tuesday by saying that many of them “sounds a little bit like a conspiracy theory to me,” especially the assertion concerning the nameless person.
“The truth is that he’s [Elon Musk] been casting around for a reason to blame us for his failings as a CEO,” Ahmed said, “because we all know that when he took over, he put up the bat signal to racists and misogynists, to homophobes, to antisemites, saying ‘Twitter is now a free-speech platform.’ … And now he’s surprised when people can quantify that there has been a resulting increase in hate and disinformation.” Added Imran Ahmad.
The case was filed after CCDH revealed Monday that Twitter had initially threatened to sue on July 20. In its reaction, Twitter called the company’s assertions “ridiculous.”
