Once again, Elon Musk and social medium X are in the spotlight as the UK Spectator’s “Cockburn” reports,

Leaked documents thought to be drawn up by the Center for Countering Digital Hate — founded by Sir Keir Starmer’s now-chief of staff Morgan McSweeney — have been posted on Paul Thacker and Matt Taibbi’s Disinformation Chronicle Substack. The files reportedly list “kill Musk’s Twitter” as one of the group’s annual priorities, with the sentiment appearing in multiple documents dating back to the early months of 2024.

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

Center for Countering Digital Hate is one of the non-profit groups whose concern about hate speech online seems focused on a few targets, consistent with its political associations. That raises the question of whether, given its political ties, it is in fact political rather than a philanthropic group. The distinction is important:

As a not-for-profit organization, CCDH benefits from special tax exemptions — which it could lose if it is found that a “substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation.” If the leaked files are authentic, it would appear the Labour-linked policy unit has some rather important questions to answer… “Kill’ Elon Musk’s Twitter,”

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

Based on X’s own investigation as it detailed in its lawsuit, the organization used an account older than 30 days to bypass the website’s ad filters to follow a set of users known to produce “extreme, fringe content” along with the biggest advertisers on the platform. The group then allegedly kept on scrolling and refreshing its feed to generate “between 13 to 15 times more advertisements per hour than viewed by the average X user.” X said the watchdog didn’t provide any context regarding the “forced, inauthentic nature” of the advertisements it saw.”

In a response to Media Matters’ research, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said “not a single authentic user on X saw IBM’s, Comcast’s, or Oracle’s ads next to the content in Media Matters’ article.” She added that “only two users saw Apple’s ad next to the content, at least one of which was Media Matters,” confirming that the organization did see the advertisements, even if it had to create the right conditions for them.

Mariella Moon, “X lawsuit accuses Media Matters of running a campaign to drive advertisers away,” Engadget, November 20, 2023

The big story is the extent to which traditional media, including traditional tech media, hate and fear X — most likely because it is a new way of doing media. Its high volume, low entry cost, and low barrier format make it better suited to the internet age than the more rigid and costly structures it threatens. The conflict is likely to escalate as its popularity grows.

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