Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opens investigation into Media Matters
Brady Knox
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that he opened an investigation into Media Matters for alleged fraudulent activity.
The investigation comes soon after X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, launched a defamation suit against the group after it claimed the site displayed ads next to far-right figures. Paxton said he launched the investigation after he heard of the suit against the “radical anti-free speech organization.”
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“We are examining the issue closely to ensure that the public has not been deceived by the schemes of radical left-wing organizations who would like nothing more than to limit freedom by reducing participation in the public square,” Paxton said in a statement.
Media Matters is being prosecuted under the Texas Business Organizations Code and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
X owner Elon Musk touted the lawsuit in a post on the platform shortly after Paxton’s announcement.
“Fraud has both civil and criminal penalties,” he said.
Last week, a report from the nonprofit group Media Matters alleged that advertisements from Apple, IBM, Amazon, and Oracle were among those that appeared next to far-right content on X. In response to the ad, Apple, Comcast, IBM, Warner Brothers, Paramount Global, Disney, and Lionsgate all halted their advertisements on the site.
Musk responded on Monday by filing a defamation lawsuit against the media watchdog, alleging that it had fabricated data in its report.
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“Launched in May 2004, Media Matters for America put in place, for the first time, the means to systematically monitor a cross section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation – news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda – every day, in real time,” Media Matters’s about page reads.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Media Matters for comment.