Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Texas AG Opens Fraud Probe Into Media Matters

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Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas announced a fraud probe into Media Matters for America Monday night.

Paxton launched the probe into the left-wing media non-profit after it released a report Thursday claiming that advertisements for major companies regularly showed up next to posts from neo-Nazis and white supremacists, according to a release. Apple, Disney, IBM and Paramount were among companies that paused advertising following the report’s release.

Journalist Michael Shellenberger, who previously covered the Twitter files that discussed censorship on the social media site, reported in a Monday afternoon post that he was unable to replicate what Media Matters claimed it observed on Twitter.

“Attorney General Paxton was extremely troubled by the allegations that Media Matters, a radical anti-free speech organization, fraudulently manipulated data on X.com (formerly known as Twitter),” the release said.

Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, said at the time he was seeking to create a “common digital town square” on the site, according to the Wall Street Journal, reacted to Paxton’s announcement with a post on the site.

See that Media Matters is in the news again…

Friendly reminder that, like many left-wing activist groups, they’re bankrolled by the liberal dark money network — receiving $250k from the @ArabellaAdvisor-connected Hopewell Fund last year alone: pic.twitter.com/GDj2qiC7O8

— Americans for Public Trust (@apublictrust) November 21, 2023

“Fraud has both civil & criminal penalties,” Musk said, with an image of the release attached to the post.

X sued Media Matters in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas Monday.

“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 the release.

Media Matters did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.