On Thursday, Elon Musk lost a lawsuit alleging that advertisers violated antitrust laws. collusion in an advertising boycott After taking over Twitter gut content moderation groups and broke up Trust and Security Council.
In it feedbackU.S. District Judge Jane Boyle wrote that the lawsuit was dismissed because Musk failed to state a claim. His arguments that advertisers were acting against their own interests by avoiding advertising on his platform, now called X, did not defend the facts showing that consumers were harmed. Without consumer harm, there can be no antitrust violation, the judge wrote, deeming the advertising boycott perfectly legal.
“The substance of the alleged conspiracy does not state an antitrust claim, and therefore the Court does not hesitate to dismiss with prejudice,” Boyle said. At one point, he emphasized that “the question underlying an antitrust injury is whether consumers are harmed, not competitors.”
For Musk, the loss is likely significant. He claimed it advertisers should be “criminally prosecuted” After allies in Congress published a report alleging a conspiracy to undercut Twitter’s revenue in order to censor conservative voices.
The claim is also a a larger “thermonuclear” legal battle It started when Musk sued Media Matters for America over its reporting, which it claims prompted the boycott. That lawsuit is still ongoing, but a judge’s ruling that the boycott was not illegal could end it.
At the time of writing, Musk had not commented on the decision, and X did not respond to Ars’ request for comment.
It’s likely that X will appeal, given Musk’s public statements about the lawsuit.
