AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office has opened an investigation into left-wing watchdog group Media Matters for America for “potential fraudulent activity,” according to a news release.
The release called Media Matters a “radical anti-free speech organization,” saying Paxton was “troubled” by allegations that the nonprofit manipulated data on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The news came after Elon Musk’s X filed a lawsuit against Media Matters, saying the company manufactured a report showing advertisers' posts alongside neo-Nazi and white nationalist posts. Musk recently endorsed an anti-semitic conspiracy theory via a post on X.
X’s complaint claims the nonprofit "has manipulated algorithms governing the user experience on X to bypass safeguards and create images of X's largest advertisers' paid posts adjacent to racist, incendiary content, leaving the false impression that these pairings are anything but what they actually are: manufactured, inorganic and extraordinarily rare."
Paxton’s office said it enforces the Texas Business Organizations Code and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act against nonprofits that commit fraudulent acts.
“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,” said Paxton.