Att viva frei: Media Matters manipulated the system to fabricate defamatory material against Musk

Lawyer @thevivafrei explains how Media Matters intentionally and deceitfully manipulated the system to fabricate defamatory material against @elonmusk and @X.

In an effort to populate their timeline with national brands and fringe content, Media Matters used newly created accounts to exclusively follow a few accounts that fell into either of these categories.

Despite their intentional effort to place ads next to fringe content, they were unsuccessful in achieving their goals.

Media Matters resorted to relentlessly refreshing their timeline—13 times more frequently than an average user—eventually capturing screenshots of major corporate advertisements alongside the targeted content.

However, the lawsuit clarifies that these pairings were virtually unseen by any authentic users on the platform, except for the Media Matters employee who deliberately manipulated the system, intentionally seeking such material.

Specifically, major corporations such as IBM, Comcast, and Oracle had their ads appear alongside fringe content for only one viewer—Media Matters—out of over 500 million active users on @X.

In Apple's case, only two out of 500 million users saw its ad with cited fringe content, with at least one of those views attributed to Media Matters.

Authentic users did not encounter these ads next to objectionable content, as Media Matters achieved this outcome solely through the manipulation of @X's algorithms.

Media Matters omitted these details in their reporting, failing to highlight the forced, inauthentic nature and rarity of these pairings, which constituted an extremely small fraction (0.0000009090909 percent) of impressions served throughout the entire day.

Ironically, the extent to which Media Matters had to maliciously exploit the system underscores the effectiveness of @X's ad filters.

Why are major national brands like
@Apple, @Disney, @IBM, and @comcast susceptible to such overt manipulation and deception?