Judge mocks X for “vapid” argument in Musk’s hate speech lawsuit::Judge to X lawyer: “I’m trying to figure out in my mind how that’s possibly true."

    • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      8 months ago

      I love how world is slowly but collectively switching from worshiping Musk to calling him Space Karen.

  • fluxion@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    8 months ago

    X’s lawyer, Jon Hawk, argued that when the CCDH joined Twitter in 2019, the group agreed to terms of service that noted those terms could change. So when Musk purchased Twitter and updated rules to reinstate accounts spreading hate speech, the CCDH should have been able to foresee those changes in terms and therefore anticipate that any reporting on spikes in hate speech would cause financial losses.

    The only thing that makes this arrangement of words makes sense to me is if it’s an explanation for why Musk is an idiot for reinstating hate speech accounts since he should’ve be able to foresee that they’d lose ad money because of it.

  • Dippy@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    32
    ·
    8 months ago

    . “‘Oh, what’s foreseeable is that things can change, and therefore, if there’s a change, it’s 'foreseeable.’ I mean, that argument is truly remarkable.”

    Judge is having none of it haha.

  • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    ·
    8 months ago

    any reporting on spikes in hate speech would cause financial losses.

    That seems like a Twitter problem, not a CCDH problem.

  • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    8 months ago

    Seemingly skeptical of X’s entire argument, Breyer appeared particularly focused on how X intended to prove that the CCDH could have known that its reporting would trigger such substantial financial losses, as the lawsuit hinges on whether the alleged damages were “foreseeable,” NPR reported.

    X’s lawyer, Jon Hawk, argued that when the CCDH joined Twitter in 2019, the group agreed to terms of service that noted those terms could change. So when Musk purchased Twitter and updated rules to reinstate accounts spreading hate speech, the CCDH should have been able to foresee those changes in terms and therefore anticipate that any reporting on spikes in hate speech would cause financial losses.

    According to CNN, this is where Breyer became frustrated, telling Hawk, “I’m trying to figure out in my mind how that’s possibly true, because I don’t think it is.”

    “What you have to tell me is, why is it foreseeable?” Breyer said. “That they should have understood that, at the time they entered the terms of service, that Twitter would then change its policy and allow this type of material to be disseminated?

    “That, of course, reduces foreseeability to one of the most vapid extensions of law I’ve ever heard,” Breyer added. “‘Oh, what’s foreseeable is that things can change, and therefore, if there’s a change, it’s 'foreseeable.’ I mean, that argument is truly remarkable.”

    Ignoring that researching how toxic a toxic shithole is is very clearly not “hacking” and reporting it is first amendment protected speech, so knowing financial harm is coming shouldn’t be relevant in any way:

    What the actual fuck is wrong with this dude?

    • loutr@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      8 months ago

      My guess is he threw a tantrum and yelled at his lawyers to do something about it, and it’s the best they came up with.

      • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        If you’re a defense attorney, you need to be entitled to any argument no matter how tenuous or ridiculous in order to have due process of law. You can’t be scared an argument will get you in trouble.

        But there needs to be a line for a plaintiff where you at minimum get suspended from any sort of practice of law for a serious length of time for absurdly frivolous arguments, and it needs to be way before this.

  • tabular@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    8 months ago

    It’s very easy to hate on Musk but what you have to understand is that it’s also fun free speech for me but not for thee.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    8 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    It looks like Elon Musk may lose X’s lawsuit against hate speech researchers who encouraged a major brand boycott after flagging ads appearing next to extremist content on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

    X is trying to argue that the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) violated the site’s terms of service and illegally accessed non-public data to conduct its reporting, allegedly posing a security risk for X.

    The boycott, X alleged, cost the company tens of millions of dollars by spooking advertisers, while X contends that the CCDH’s reporting is misleading and ads are rarely served on extremist content.

    But at a hearing Thursday, US district judge Charles Breyer told the CCDH that he would consider dismissing X’s lawsuit, repeatedly appearing to mock X’s decision to file it in the first place.

    According to NPR, Breyer suggested that X was trying to “shoehorn” its legal theory by using language from a breach of contract claim, when what the company actually appeared to be alleging was defamation.

    CCDH’s CEO and founder, Imran Ahmed, provided a statement to Ars, confirming that the group is “very pleased with how yesterday’s argument went, including many of the questions and comments from the court.”


    The original article contains 483 words, the summary contains 204 words. Saved 58%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!