A Texas judge denied Media Matters for America’s request for a dismissal on Thursday, allowing X’s lawsuit over alleged anti-semitic and racist content to proceed. According to The Verge, Northern District of Texas Judge Reed O’Connor dismissed the request for a dismissal, paving the way for X’s lawsuit against Media Matters to continue. Media Matters submitted its dismissal request in early March, arguing that X’s case lacked “personal jurisdiction,” was in an “improper venue,” and failed to state a claim. O’Connor dismissed all of those claims, as court records show. The lawsuit filed last year in federal court seeks damages from the media watchdog group over “maliciously manufactured” images that reportedly placed Neo-Nazi and white-nationalist content next to advertisers’ images on X’s platform, causing advertisers to flee the site. Despite the fact that X owner Elon Musk’s other companies are located in Texas but are not directly connected to the Media Matters lawsuit, O’Connor noted that two of X’s “blue-chip” advertisers, AT&T and Oracle, included in Media Matters’ coverage, are based in Texas. The judge referenced the 2002 Internet defamation case Revell v. Lidov, quoting the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals’ assertion that “if you are going to pick a fight in Texas, it is reasonable to expect that it be settled there.” Elon Musk announced earlier this year that X’s headquarters will move to Austin, Texas, following the relocation of Tesla’s headquarters from California to Texas in 2021 and SpaceX’s move from Delaware to Texas earlier this year.
