Leftist NGO and media watchdog ‘Media Matters for America’ have come under the scanner after it accused X (formerly Twitter) and its founder Elon Musk of promoting Neo-Nazi content.
Musk was quick to dismiss the claims and pointed out that the NGO resorted to fraud and manipulation to portray the micro-blogging platform as ‘anti-Semitic.’
The allegations levelled by ‘Media Matters for America’ led to the exodus of large advertisers from X (formerly Twitter), prompting a lawsuit from the corporation. Coincidentally, far-left billionaire George Soros had donated $1 million to the leftist NGO in October 2010.
As per a report by The New York Times, ‘Media Matters for America’ received a donation of $1 million from Soros. At that time, the leftist NGO vowed to use the generous sum of money to continue its smear campaign against the US conservative news network Fox.
“We are especially pleased that in this moment of hidden right-wing billionaire money corrupting our democracy, Mr. Soros, upon deciding to support our efforts, quickly and transparently has made that support public,” it said in a statement.
While confirming the development, George Soros had remarked, “Media Matters is one of the few groups that attempts to hold Fox News accountable for the false and misleading information they so often broadcast. I am supporting Media Matters in an effort to more widely publicize the challenge Fox News poses to civil and informed discourse in our democracy.“
In return, ‘Media Matters for America’ has published a page, dedicated to George Soros and his vicious rhetoric. “He (Soros) is a frequent target of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories in right-wing media,” claims the beneficiary of the far-left billionaire’s ‘philanthropic’ empire.
OpIndia found that the leftist NGO has written 29 articles in support of Soros and dismissed every criticism has a ‘far-right conspiracy theory.’ Fox News hosts Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity have described ‘Media Matters for America’ as ‘the left-wing George Soros-funded media machine’ and ‘Hillary Clinton’s George Soros-funded group’ respectively.
It must be mentioned that in January 2020, the American billionaire committed $1 billion to start a global university to “fight nationalists” and climate change, calling them twin challenges that threaten the survival of our civilization.
Elon Musk and his views on George Soros
Elon Musk, who is now the subject of a smear campaign by ‘Media Matters for America,’ has been vocal against George Soros – the same man who donated $1 million to the leftist outfit.
On 31st October this year, the X (formerly Twitter) owner lashed out at the far-left billionaire for putting human civilisation under threat during a 2-hour 40 minute-long-podcast with radio host Joe Rogan.
“In my opinion, (Soros) fundamentally hates humanity. He is doing things that erode the fabric of civilization,” he was hearing saying. Elon Musk lambasted Soros for ensuring the appointment of District Attorneys (DAs) who refuse to prosecute criminals, thereby worsening the crime rate in major US cities.
Elon Musk explains to Joe Rogan how George Soros manipulates the system to his own ends. “In my opinion, he fundamentally hates humanity.” pic.twitter.com/kT4th3x3Kw
— Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) October 31, 2023
“Getting DAs elected who refuse to prosecute crime…That is part of the problem in San Francisco, and LA, and a bunch of other cities. So why would you do that? He is pushing things in other countries as well” the Tesla CEO added.
“George, at this point is pretty old…basically a bit senile at this point…He is very good at arbitrage – famously he shorted the British pound…That’s how I think he made his first money,” Elon Musk added. He hinted at how the far-left billionaire is trying to influence local elections and getting a good value for his money.
“And one of the things he noticed is that the value for money in local races is much higher than it is in national races. “The lowest value for money is a presidential race. The next lowest value for money is a Senate race, then a Congress. And when you get to city and state district attorneys the value for money is extremely good,” the Tesla CEO stated.
“Soros realized that you don’t actually need to change the laws, you just need to change how they’re enforced…If no one chooses to enforce the laws, or the laws are differentially enforced, it’s like changing the laws,” Elon Musk concluded.
Elon Musk on Tuesday said that if his inflammatory tweets scare away advertisers from Twitter, he will accept that. “I’ll say what I want, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it." https://t.co/0Pi3Yl8Jo2 pic.twitter.com/tQUOc4GChO
— CNBC (@CNBC) May 17, 2023
This is not the first time that he lambasted the far-left billionaire. Earlier in May this year, Musk reiterated the fact that George Soros hates humanity. “You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity,” he said then.
Elon Musk and the ‘Media Matters for America’ controversy
On 16th November, leftist media watchdog ‘Media Matters for America’ published a controversial article, claiming that X (formerly Twitter) was placing advertisements of large companies next to anti-Semitic posts.
In the article, it claimed, “As X owner Elon Musk continues his descent into white nationalist and antisemitic conspiracy theories, his social media platform has been placing ads for major brands like Apple, Bravo (NBCUniversal), IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity (Comcast) next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.“
‘Media Matters for America’, which has a history of hounding non-left news organisations such as Fox Corporation, also alleged that X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk supposedly reinstated the accounts of ‘bigots’, ‘pro-Hitler’, ‘paid far-right extremists’, and ‘Holocaust deniers.
The leftist organisation claimed, “During all of this Musk-induced chaos, corporate advertisements have also been appearing on pro-Hitler, Holocaust denial, white nationalist, pro-violence, and neo-Nazi accounts.“
It further alleged that advertisements for companies such as IBM, Apple, Oracle, Bravo, and Xfinity appeared next to ‘pro-Hitler’ and ‘pro-Nazi’ tweets on X (formerly Twitter).
Following the hitjob by ‘Media Matters for America’ on the micro-blogging platform, tech company IBM announced that it has pulled out advertisements from the Elon Musk-owned X.
Several other companies such as Apple, Lions Gate Entertainment, Sony, Disney, Comcast, Warner Bros, and Paramount Global have pulled out advertisements from X in the aftermath of the controversial report by ‘Media Matters for America.’
Fraud has both civil & criminal penalties pic.twitter.com/BdC5Zfr1XM
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 21, 2023
On Monday (20th November), Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against ‘Media Matters for America’ after it accused X (formerly Twitter) of promoting ‘anti-Semitism’.
In its lawsuit, X said, “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.”
“Media Matters designed both these images and its resulting media strategy to drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp,” the Elon Musk-owned company stated.
Their board, their donors, their network of dark money, all of them …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2023
In a tweet on 18th November, Elon Musk vowed to file a ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’ against the leftist NGO. X (formerly Twitter) also published a statement, exposing the antics of ‘Media Matters for America’ that were designed to portray the micro-blogging platform as ‘anti-Semitic.’
