Elon Musk’s company formerly known as Twitter, now called X, is filing a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that researches hate speech on social media.

The suit alleges that CCDH violated Twitter’s terms of service and federal law by scraping data from the platform and conducting a “scare campaign to drive away advertisers.” X claims that CCDH cherry-picks posts to portray Twitter as flooded with hate speech and harmful content, aiming to silence users.

CCDH is well-known for its 2021 study, revealing that 12 individuals were responsible for most misleading claims about COVID-19 vaccines on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. CCDH’s CEO, Imran Ahmed, asserted that Musk is attempting to “shoot the messenger” rather than addressing the toxic content on his platform.

Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter last fall, levels of hate speech have reportedly increased on the platform.

Free speech absolutist

The entrepreneur, who identifies as a free speech absolutist, has relaxed posting rules and reinstated accounts of white supremacists, far-right extremists, and Qanon conspiracy theorists. Twitter disputes the claim of rising hateful content, stating that views of such posts have declined.

Musk has a history of using strong tactics against critics, including suspending journalists and banning users. Twitter’s clash with CCDH escalated after the group’s report in June, which stated that Twitter did not take action against most of the tweets reported for violating rules against hateful conduct.

The lawsuit coincides with users migrating to Twitter alternatives like Meta’s Threads, while Twitter’s advertising revenue has suffered.

It also comes amid claims from Republican lawmakers and right-wing activists that researchers studying online disinformation are attempting to censor opposing views. Twitter and CCDH remain at odds, with CCDH vowing to continue its independent research regardless of Musk’s actions.