Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is investigating Media Matters for America for “potentially unlawful business practices” including allegedly using fraud to bully advertisers from abandoning their partnerships with social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
In his letter announcing the investigation, Bailey warned that Media Matters’ attempt to punish “the last platform dedicated to free speech in America” could constitute a violation of his state’s consumer protection laws barring nonprofits from “soliciting funds under false pretenses.”
“I am especially concerned that Media Matters’ actions, if proven true, have hampered free speech by targeting an expressly pro free speech social media platform in an attempt to cause it financial harm while defrauding Missourians in the process,” Bailey wrote.
🚨BREAKING: We have reason to believe Media Matters used fraud to solicit donations from Missourians in order to bully advertisers into pulling out of X, the last platform dedicated to free speech in America.
We have launched an investigation. pic.twitter.com/jBUJqdsFYL
— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) December 11, 2023
Bailey’s investigation stems from a Media Matters “report” released in November accusing X of publishing advertisements for big companies like Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity alongside “pro-Nazi content.” Media Matters’ activism, which relied on a manipulated feed they carefully curated to “alienate advertisers,” pushed several of the aforementioned companies to pull their ads from the free speech platform.
X owner Elon Musk quickly filed what he called a “thermonuclear” defamation lawsuit against Media Matters for accusing him of backing antisemitism. In legal documents,
