Elon Musk's vendetta against Media Matters morphs into Trump administration investigation
Essentially piggybacking on Musk's lawsuits against Media Matters over the group's research into hateful and antisemitic content on the mega-billionaire's social media platform X, the FTC sent a letter to the organization requiring it to share communications and documents related to its research, as well as copies of its budgets.
'This demand is issued pursuant to Section 20 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 57b-1, in the course of an investigation to determine whether there is, has been, or may be a violation of any laws administered by the Federal Trade Commission by conduct, activities, or proposed action as described in Item 3,' the letter states.
Media Matters president Angelo Carusone said the formal government probe was an escalation of President Donald Trump's efforts to punish his critics, which have resulted in executive orders against law firms, investigations into Democratic-aligned groups, and threats against media outlets.
'The Trump administration has been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics,' Carusone said in a statement.
'It's clear that's exactly what's happening here, given Media Matters' history of holding those same figures to account. These threats won't work; we remain steadfast to our mission,' he added.
The FTC declined to comment.
Earlier this spring, the president dismissed the last two remaining Democrats on the FTC, calling into question the commission's independence. While the commission is supposed to be made up of five commissioners who serve seven-year terms, with no more than three from any political party, the FTC currently has just three members – all Republican.
Musk, who served as a close adviser to Trump and has championed himself as a 'free speech absolutist,' sued Media Matters for defamation in 2023 and blamed it for an advertiser exodus from X over a 'harmful' report that showed pro-Nazi posts appearing next to blue-chip company ads.
Since then, Musk launched another lawsuit against an industry group that represents a slew of global brands and advertisers, accusing it of conspiring to cut off X's advertising revenue. The world's richest man has also filed additional complaints against Media Matters across the world, while sympathetic GOP state attorneys have spun up their own Musk-related civil investigations into the liberal organization. A federal judge halted those probes last year, stating that they were being used 'to retaliate against a media organization for protected speech.'
In March, Media Matters went on offense and sued X for breach of contract over the multiple lawsuits Musk has filed against the group, which includes complaints in Ireland and Singapore, claiming the tech mogul was engaging in 'a vendetta-driven campaign of libel tourism.'
'X's worldwide campaign of intimidation seeks to punish Media Matters for exercising its core First Amendment rights on a matter of public importance,' the lawsuit alleges. 'This Court should stop X's antics and enforce the forum selection clause that X itself drafted.'
The Tesla CEO's vendetta against Media Matters has forced the non-profit group to make severe cutbacks amid the financial strain of the escalating court battles. The watchdog laid off roughly a dozen writers and researchers last year and has scaled back much of its work in recent months. Carusone has therefore spent much of the past year meeting with donors and allies while attempting to raise enough money to keep Media Matters afloat.
Meanwhile, the Trump-led government seemingly doing the bidding of a close ally of the president's, who donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the GOP in the past year, has already prompted quite a bit of criticism.
'Of course, if the roles were reversed—if a Democratic administration were using the FTC to target a conservative media watchdog because George Soros didn't like its reporting—outlets like Fox News would never stop covering it,' Status founder Oliver Darcy wrote. 'There would be front-page stories, members of Congress would be pressured to hold hearings, and endless screeds about weaponizing government would saturate social media platforms like X.'
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