The formerly known as Twitter, now called X, is threatening to sue the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) over its investigation into hate speech on Twitter.
In a letter to the CCDH, first reported by The New York Times, Twitter attorney Alex Spiro claims that the CCDH “regularly publishes articles that make inflammatory, outrageous and false or misleading claims” about Twitter with the goal of damaging its reputation.
An NGO that seeks to put an end to hate speeches
The CCDH is an organization that seeks to hold social media companies accountable for the dissemination of hateful material online. Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, the CCDH has published numerous reports suggesting that the platform fails to protect users from hate speech.
In its most recent study, CCDH found that Twitter fails to take action against 99% of hate speech posted by paid Twitter Blue subscribers.
The letter, which Twitter sent on July 20, 2023, specifically addresses this study, claiming that CCDH’s findings are “not supported by anything that can credibly be called research” and exist to scare advertisers away.
Spiro claims that Twitter has “reason to believe” that CCDH is funded by X Corp. competitors and government entities:
“Twitter takes very seriously its commitment to free speech, the enforcement of its user protection rules and policies, and its strong relationships with its advertising partners…to the extent that CCDH is passing off as impartial “research” material that is actually being funded in support of an ulterior agenda, its statements are all the more misleading.”
If they criticize you it is because they are bought, that is the explanation
Spiro warns that Twitter is also investigating whether it can take legal action against the organization’s “false and misleading claims.”
One of Twitter’s biggest concerns right now is advertisers, and it seems that the main function of the company’s new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, is to win them back. This lawsuit is intended to help with that goal, but it could have the opposite effect.
If it weren’t for the Twitter letter, I probably wouldn’t have seen this study (so good job, Elon). For its part, CCDH rejects the company’s claims in a response posted on its website.
“These accusations are not only baseless (your letter is silent on the matter), but represent a troubling attempt to intimidate those who have the courage to fight incitement, hate speech and harmful content on the Internet,” writes the CCDH lawyer. Putting pressure on an organization that uncovers hate speech, rather than doing something about it, doesn’t look very good on Twitter’s part.
Musk has criticized the CCDH in the past. Just two days before Twitter sent his letter to the CCDH, Musk responded to a user’s tweet about his research: “Who funds this organization? They spread disinformation and encourage censorship, while claiming the opposite. Truly evil.”
Twitter against the world
This latest letter adds to the growing number of legal threats Twitter has issued in recent months.
After threatening to sue Microsoft over allegations that it “trained by illegally using Twitter data,” the company sent a letter to Meta claiming that its Threads app copied Twitter.
But all this is nothing more than a lot of words and no action so far, although it would be somewhat entertaining to see how well Twitter’s claims hold up in court.
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