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On Wednesday, a Los Angeles-based 22-year-old faculty graduate, Ben Brody, sued Elon Musk for greater than $1 million. Brody’s lawsuit alleged that over a collection of social media posts, the X (previously Twitter) proprietor falsely recognized Brody—described as a “shy younger man”—as a participant “in a violent avenue brawl on behalf of a neo-Nazi extremist group” close to Portland, Oregon, this summer time.
Maybe even worse, based on Brody’s grievance, one of Musk’s X posts additionally allegedly amplified conspiracy theories that “Ben Brody’s alleged participation within the extremist brawl meant the incident was in all probability a ‘false flag’ operation to deceive the American public.”
The lawsuit outlined a “false flag” as a time period that is been “popularized amongst conspiracy idea media figures to imply a hostile or dangerous motion (sometimes an assault or different act of violence) that’s designed to appear to be it was perpetrated by somebody aside from the individual or group accountable for it.” It additionally famous {that a} “false flag” is a “sort of ‘psyop’ or ‘psychological operation,'” which the lawsuit alleged is “an idea which Musk has fixated on for a number of months.”
“Musk made these ridiculously false and damaging accusations primarily based on a tweet he had seen from an nameless far-right extremist Twitter account,” the lawsuit mentioned. “After amplifying the declare for 2 days, Musk personally leveled these accusations towards Ben Brody, and it has led to extreme private harassment and everlasting harm to his status.”
Over 60 pages, the grievance devoted substantial time to documenting Musk’s current historical past of allegedly spreading misinformation and slandering folks since shopping for X. The lawsuit alleged that these instances and Brody’s expertise reveal a sample displaying that Musk’s spiral towards seemingly embracing right-wing conspiracies seems “to be fueled” not simply by monetary greed but additionally “by his ever-growing habit” to X.
“Musk’s private endorsement of the false accusation towards Ben Brody reverberated throughout the Web, reworking the accusation from nameless rumor to gospel fact for a lot of people, and inflicting others to make use of Musk’s endorsement to justify their want to harass Ben Brody and his household,” the lawsuit mentioned.
The grievance alleged that Musk is financially motivated to advertise accounts “publishing hateful content material and harmful conspiracies,” which the lawsuit described as “the monetization of low-effort rubbish masquerading as info.”
The lawsuit cited a report printed by the Heart for Countering Digital Hate—a group of hate researchers that Musk sued—which famous that Musk’s resolution to reinstate simply 10 beforehand banned Twitter accounts peddling conspiracies and hate would “generate as much as $19 million a yr in promoting income for Twitter.”
Brody has demanded a jury trial the place the courtroom will assess precise damages, however Brody will seemingly search greater than $1 million, the lawsuit mentioned. Musk might find yourself owing extra, the lawsuit mentioned, partly “as a result of Musk didn’t make a well timed and adequate correction, clarification, or retraction.”
“Totally profane and blasphemous”
Since Musk’s posts, Brody’s grievance mentioned that he has suffered emotional misery, “together with problem sleeping, panic assaults, complications, and fatigue which disrupted his day by day life and severely impacted his sense of wellbeing.” He additionally alleged that he and his household have been “repeatedly doxed and suffered an infinite wave of harassment from belligerent strangers.” For Brody, gaining a false status for “donning neo-Nazi regalia” on the brawl is very horrifying, “given his Jewish heritage,” his lawsuit mentioned, as a result of, to him, it might be “an act that might be completely profane and blasphemous if it had been true.”
Immediately, X customers “proceed their assaults and harassment, in addition to publish accusations towards Ben that can stay on-line endlessly,” the lawsuit mentioned. On high of fearing that these posts could in the future escalate right into a real-world confrontation, Brody’s grievance alleged that he’s “mentally distraught proper on the essential private second when he exits faculty and enters his profession path.” He is most fearful about “what jobs he would possibly lose to different candidates as a result of controversy or a misunderstanding.” The lawsuit defined:
Ben is fearful in regards to the future penalties of endlessly having this occasion tied to his title and {photograph} on the Web. Ben worries that future employers could resolve that it’s merely not price it to rent an worker in a public-facing place who’s linked to a weird controversy involving a neo-Nazi group. Ben fears his purposes for top-tier positions could get handed over in favor of candidates with unblemished private histories. He fears he’ll all the time fear whether or not his life might need taken a extra productive path with out the reckless interference of Elon Musk.
X didn’t reply to Ars’ request to remark.
Mark Bankston—a lawyer representing Brody, who is probably going most well-known for representing the dad and mom of kids killed in Sandy Hook who efficiently sued Alex Jones—told Vice that he’s “honored to be aiding this courageous younger man in standing up towards one more certainly one of Elon Musk’s reckless smears.”
“We stay up for restoring Ben’s good title and sending a message that Musk’s conduct is unacceptable,” Bankston instructed Vice.
Bankston instructed Ars that he has no extra feedback right now.
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