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Published on
September 17, 2025
5 min read
U.S. Federal Court Allows X to Sue Media Matters in Texas
A Texas-based federal court has ruled that social media firm X can proceed with its lawsuit against the non-profit watchdog, Media Matters. In 2023, X sued Media Matters in Texas for defaming the social media company in a report. According to Reuters, a U.S. federal judge rejected the argument advanced by Media Matters where it challenged the lawsuit venue and claimed that it should be transferred to California.
No Cause to Shift Lawsuit Venue
In the X vs Media Matters lawsuit, the social media accused the non-profit advocacy group of fabricating images and defaming the social media platform in a report. In its report, Media Matters stated that X had placed ads belonging to top brands next to extremist content.
As a result, some brands paused their ad spending on X while others stopped running ads on the platform completely. In November 2024, Texas AG announced plans to investigate the ad boycott claim and determine whether the members of the World Federation of Advertisers conspired in the specific social media platforms.
Media Matters defended its reporting in the lawsuit and denied the accusations. In court, the advocacy group claimed that the case should not have been brought to Texas because neither of the parties involved was based in the state at the time of filing.
While delivering Musk’s X lawsuit venue ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor said he “does not find good cause” to move the lawsuit from Texas.
The advocacy group further argued that the allegations in the case have no connection to the state. X moved its headquarters to Bastrop, Texas in 2024. Prior to the shift, the social media company was based in San Francisco, California. X terms of service were also updated to direct user disputes to the Northern District of Texas, where conservative litigants in political cases tend to get favorable rulings.
X Argument on Lawsuit Venue
While seeking to keep the X in Texas, X had argued that moving it was part of Media Matters’ “pattern of gamesmanship and delay”. This is not the first time that the federal judge has let X sue Media Matters in Texas.
In August 2024, Judge O’Connor denied Media Matter’s request to shift the lawsuit to California. The advocacy group challenged the decision at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In July 2025, the Circuit Court advised the judge to conduct a more thorough analysis.
In March 2025, Media Matters filed a separate lawsuit against X in California. In the lawsuit, the advocacy group accused the social media firm of using legal suits that lack merit to mount a vendetta-driven campaign.
“X initiated a vendetta-driven campaign of libel tourism, spanning three jurisdictions in three countries, all arising from the same conduct: Media Matters’ use of X’s platform in accordance with X’s Terms of Service and its truthful reporting on the results,” The advocacy group said in its complaint.
Other Media Matter’s Lawsuits
The X lawsuit isn’t the only case that Media Matters is dealing with in court. In Washington D.C., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has subpoenaed the advocacy group demanding communications with other media watchdogs that evaluate hate speech and misinformation in social media and mainstream media. These include the World Federation of Advertisers’ initiative known as Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM).
The probe is part of the U.S. government’s investigation into whether groups like Media Matters coordinated with advertisers to pull ad dollars from X after Musk bought the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, back in 2022.
X claimed that through the GARM, the World Federation of Advertisers had withheld revenue amounting to billions of dollars from X. GARM shut down in August 2024 after X filed the ad boycott lawsuit. The World Federation of Advertisers said GARM’s closure was occasioned by lack of financial resources to sustain operations as it battles the X lawsuit. The advertiser group had launched in 2019 to help advertisers overcome the challenge of harmful or illegal content on digital media platforms.
