X Corp. Compels Media Matters to Produce Editorial Standards in Dispute Over Fabricated Ad Images

The dispute centers on X Corp.'s allegations that Media Matters, Eric Hananoki, and Angelo Carusone maliciously fabricated side-by-side images to falsely portray the social media platform as dominated by neo-Nazi content. X Corp. claims these deceptive images were designed to alienate advertisers and cause business harm.

In a ruling issued April 23, Chief Judge Reed O'Connor granted X Corp.'s motion to compel defendants to produce documents related to their online advertising brand safety and content moderation standards. The court overruled defendants' objections, rejecting claims that the request was overly broad or unduly burdensome. Regarding defendants' assertions of privilege under the First Amendment and Texas Press Shield Law, the court did not rule on the validity of those claims but ordered defendants to produce nonprivileged documents and log any potentially privileged materials.

Defendants were ordered to produce nonprivileged documents responsive to the request and to log any potentially privileged materials by May 22, 2026. The court noted that defendants failed to provide evidence supporting their burden objections and had waived a duplicative objection by failing to advance it in their response.

The court also ordered defendants to produce additional organizational and employee information beyond the charts they had already agreed to provide. Defendants' generic objections regarding burden and proportionality were overruled as waived, with production also due by May 22, 2026.

Regarding defendants' motion to compel X Corp. to produce user content, the court deferred ruling on requests for posts from specific accounts. The parties must submit additional briefing on whether the Stored Communications Act applies to social media posts and how its exceptions for protecting a provider's rights apply.

On other discovery requests, the court sustained X Corp.'s objections to demands for advertising revenue data and content filter documents, accepting X's declaration that no responsive materials existed. The court also modified a request for creator monetization data to cover only the 15 user accounts featured in defendants' reporting.

Finally, the court overruled X Corp.'s objections to requests for documents regarding potential lost revenue caused by other entities, including the Center for Countering Digital Hate. X Corp. must produce responsive documents by May 22, 2026.