British Labor-affiliated group wants to “kill” X; X threatens to sue

Once again, Elon Musk and social media X are in the spotlight British spectator“Cockburn” reports,

Leaked documents believed to have been created by the Center for Countering Digital Hate – founded by Sir Keir Starmer’s now chief of staff Morgan McSweeney – were published on Paul Thacker and Matt Taibbi’s Disinformation Chronicle Substack. The files reportedly list “killing Musk’s Twitter” as one of the group’s annual priorities, with the sentiment appearing in several documents dating back to the first months of 2024.

“Leaked files from group linked to UK Labor Party reveal plans to ‘kill’ Elon Musk’s Twitter,” October 24, 2024

The Center for Countering Digital Hate is one of the nonprofit groups whose concerns about online hate speech appear to be focused on a few targets, in line with its political associations. That raises the question of whether it is actually a political group rather than a philanthropic one, given its political ties. The distinction is important:

As a nonprofit organization, CCDH benefits from special tax exemptions – which it could lose if it is found that a “significant part of its activities seeks to influence legislation.” If the leaked files are authentic, the Labor-aligned political entity apparently has some pretty important questions to answer… “Kill Elon Musk’s Twitter”

X plans to sue. It is currently suing a similar American group, Media Matters. She accuses the group of scaring advertisers by manipulating images to make it appear that hate speech is much more common than on X:

Based on .’s own investigations. The group then allegedly continued scrolling and refreshing their feed to “generate between 13 and 15 times more advertising per hour than the average X user saw.” X said the regulator did not provide any context about the “forced, inauthentic nature” of the advertising it saw.

In response to Media Matters’ research, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said: Not a single authentic user of She added that “only two users saw Apple’s ad alongside the content, including at least one from Media Matters,” confirming , that the organization saw the advertisement, even if the right conditions had to be created for this.

Mariella Moon: “X lawsuit accuses Media Matters of conducting a campaign to scare away advertisers.” Engadget, November 20, 2023

The big story is the extent to which traditional media, including traditional tech media, is spreading hate and fear – most likely because it is a new way of creating media. Its high volume, low cost of entry, and low-barrier format make it better suited to the Internet age than the more rigid and costly structures it threatens. As popularity increases, the conflict is likely to escalate.

You may also like to read: Elon Musk: Don’t hate the media, become them. I’ve noticed over the last year that X is slowly evolving into a new news medium, perhaps better suited to a global internet.