List of lawsuits involving X Corp.

Last updated

This is a partial list oflawsuits involving X Corp. , an American technology company.

Contents

On-going

In June 2023, the National Music Publishers' Association, on behalf of Universal Music Group, Concord Music Group, Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, and other major publishers, sued X Corp. for about US$250 million in damages over alleged copyright infringement on about 1,7000 songs. [1]

In March 2024, a US district judge upheld parts of the lawsuit against X Corp. [2]

Facilitate Corp case

In June 2023, Australian management firm Facilitate Corp sued X Corp. for alleged unpaid bills related to work done in four countries. The firm seeks about A$1 million (US$665.000) in damages. [1]

X Trademark cases

In October 2023, marketing agency X Social Media filed a lawsuit against X Corp. alleging a violation of its trademark of the letter X. [3]

In July 2024, PR Firm Multiply sued X Corp. for allegedly stealing their established identity, citing "consumer confusion by using the "X" trademark for social-media marketing services that compete with Multiply". [4]

Severance pay of Twitter executives

Four former Twitter executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, head of legal Vijaya Gadde and General Counsel Sean Edgett sued Elon Musk and X Corp. for US$128 million in unpaid severance in March 2024. In the filing, the plaintiffs alleged that Musk had acted in revenge against them personally. [5] A district judge refused to dismiss the case on November 1, 2024. [6]

In August 2024, Omid Kordestani, former executive chairman of Twitter, filed a lawsuit against X Corp. in California Superior Court. Kordestani alleges that Elon Musk is refusing to cash out more than $20 million worth of shares owed to him as compensation for his service. [7]

In November 2024, the former Twitter chief marketing officer Leslie Berland joined the group of executives in their bid to claim unpaid severance. Berland claims that she was "wrongly denied about $20 million in severance after Musk fired her based on a disagreement connected to former president Donald Trump's Twitter account". [8]

Media Matters case

In November 2023, X Corp. sued nonprofit watchdog journalism organization Media Matters for America for "allegedly disparaging the company and harming its relationships with advertisers". [9]

Imane Khelif case

In August 2024, Algerian boxer and Olympian champion Imane Khelif sued X Corp., citing "cyberbullying". The lawsuit was filed in France. [10]

Advertisers antitrust case

In August 2024, X Corp. sued the food giants Unilever and Mars Inc., private healthcare company CVS Health, and renewable energy firm Ørsted - along with trade association World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) for allegedly conspiring to withhold "billions of dollars" in advertising revenue. [11]

Days later, US district judge O'Connor recused himself from the case without providing an explanation. The case was reassigned to Judge Kinkeade. A NPR report drew scrutiny to the judge's investment in Tesla, Inc.. [12]

In October 2024, X Corp. dismissed its claims against Unilever. [13]

Wiwynn case

In August 2024, Taiwanese tech firm Wiwynn sued X Corp. over US$120 million worth of alleged unpaid IT bills. The firm seeks damages worth US$61 million, "having been able to cancel or recoup about US$59 million worth of the components". [14] The firm added two new counts to the lawsuit in October 2024: intentional misrepresentation and negligent misrepresentation. [15]

Don Lemon case

In August 2024, Don Lemon sued Elon Musk and X Corp. over the cancellation of a US$1.5 million talk show deal. The ex-CNN talk show host was also promised a share of advertising revenue. The lawsuit alleges fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and misappropriation of name and likeness. [16]

User data case

In August 2024, nine EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland) sued X Corp. for allegedly using user data without consent to train its generative AI, Grok. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) alleges X Corp. processed personal data from May 7 to Aug. 1, 2024, affecting around 60 million EU users. X Corp. risks fines of up to 4% of its global annual revenue. [17]

California's content moderation law case

In September 2023, X Corp. sued the state of California over a content moderation law "requiring them to publish their policies for policing disinformation, harassment, hate speech and extremism." [18] In September 2024, X Corp. won its appeal to block a part of the law, but the case was remanded for further analysis by the district court. [19] [20]

Resolved

CCDH Defamation case

In May 2024, a federal judge dismissed X Corp.'s lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, citing a California law against strategic lawsuits against public participation. [21]

Bright Data case

In May 2024, a federal judge dismissed X Corp.'s US$1 million lawsuit against Israeli technology company Bright Data for alleged data scraping. [22]

Severance pay of Twitter staff

In July 2024, a district judge dismissed a case brought by former Twitter staff, who accused Musk of "unlawfully denying roughly US$500m in severance payments owed to workers fired after his takeover of the company." [23] At least one former employee was awarded unpaid severance in September in a closed-door arbitration. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Elon Reeve Musk is a businessman known for his key roles in the space company SpaceX and the automotive company Tesla, Inc. His other involvements include ownership of X Corp., the company that operates the social media platform X, and his role in the founding of the Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink, and OpenAI. In November 2024, United States president-elect Donald Trump appointed Musk as the co-chair of the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the second Trump administration. Musk is the wealthiest individual in the world; as of November 2024 Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$304 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tesla, Inc.</span> American electric vehicle and clean energy company

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The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) is a global association for multinational marketers and national advertiser associations. Its membership is made up of over 140 of the world's top brands and national associations in more than 60 markets. WFA's aim is to champion effective and sustainable marketing communications worldwide.

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is an American law firm headquartered in San Diego, California. It is a plaintiffs law firm specializing in securities litigation and shareholder rights cases.

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Alexander Benjamin Spiro is an American attorney. He is a partner at the New York office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Over his career he has represented multiple celebrity clients including Elon Musk, Jay-Z, MrBeast, Eric Adams, and Alec Baldwin.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">TSLAQ</span> Group of people who criticize Tesla, Inc.

TSLAQ is a loose, international collective of largely anonymous short-sellers, skeptics, and researchers who openly criticize Tesla, Inc. and its CEO Elon Musk. The group primarily organizes on social media, often using the $TSLAQ cashtag, and on Reddit to coordinate efforts and share news, opinions, and analysis about the company and its stock. Edward Niedermeyer, in his book Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors (2019), pinpoints the July 2018 doxxing of Twitter user Lawrence Fossi, a Seeking Alpha writer and Tesla short seller operating under the pseudonym Montana Skeptic, as the catalyst for the formation of TSLAQ.

Elon Musk is the CEO or owner of multiple companies including Tesla, SpaceX, and X Corp, and has expressed many views on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from politics to science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criticism of Tesla, Inc.</span> Systemic criticism of Tesla, Inc. and its products and leadership

Tesla, Inc. has been criticized for its cars, workplace culture, business practices, and occupational safety. Many of the criticisms are also directed toward Elon Musk, the company's CEO and Product Architect. Critics have also accused Tesla of deceptive marketing, unfulfilled promises, and fraud. The company is currently facing criminal and civil investigations into its self-driving claims. Critics have highlighted Tesla's downplaying of issues, and Tesla's alleged retaliation against several whistleblowers.

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (TMTG) is an American media and technology company headquartered in Sarasota, Florida. It runs the Truth Social social-media platform and is primarily owned by U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.

The business magnate Elon Musk initiated an acquisition of American social media company Twitter, Inc. on April 14, 2022, and concluded it on October 27, 2022. Musk had begun buying shares of the company in January 2022, becoming its largest shareholder by April with a 9.1 percent ownership stake. Twitter invited Musk to join its board of directors, an offer he initially accepted before declining. On April 14, Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company, to which Twitter's board responded with a "poison pill" strategy to resist a hostile takeover before unanimously accepting Musk's buyout offer of $44 billion on April 25. Musk stated that he planned to introduce new features to the platform, make its algorithms open-source, combat spambot accounts, and promote free speech, framing the acquisition as the cornerstone of X, an "everything app".

Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter in October 2022; Musk acted as CEO of Twitter until June 2023 when he was succeeded by Linda Yaccarino. In a move that, despite Yaccarino's accession, was widely attributed to Musk, Twitter was rebranded to X on July 23, 2023, and its domain name changed from twitter.com to x.com on May 17, 2024.

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X Corp. is an American technology company headquartered in Bastrop, Texas. Established by Elon Musk in 2023 as the successor to Twitter, Inc., it is a wholly owned subsidiary of X Holdings Corp., which is itself mostly owned by Musk. The company owns the social networking service X, and has announced plans to use it as a base for other offerings. While the official name of the company and social network is now X, many users and media outlets continue to refer to it as Twitter.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Since rebranding Twitter to X, Elon Musk has faced multiple lawsuits. Here are the main ones". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Twitter's music label legal trouble might have legs". The Verge . Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Elon Musk's X hit with trademark lawsuit from marketing agency". Reuters. Archived from the original on October 7, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  4. ↑ "X Corp hit with lawsuit from PR firm over 'X' trademark". Reuters. July 22, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  5. ↑ Kolodny, Lora (2024-03-04). "Former Twitter execs sue Musk and X for more than $128 million in severance". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  6. 1 2 "Former Twitter execs sue Musk and X for more than $128 million in severance". Yahoo! Finances. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  7. ↑ "Ex-Twitter Chairman Sues Elon Musk's X for $20 Million in Shares". Bloomberg.com. 2024-08-10. Retrieved 2024-08-11.
  8. ↑ "Musk, X Corp. Sued for Severance by Ex-Twitter Marketing Officer". Bloomberg law. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  9. ↑ "Musk's X likely to lose records appeal in Media Matters case, court says". Reuters. October 21, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  10. ↑ "J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk Named in Cyberbullying Lawsuit Filed by Algerian Boxer Imane Khelif After Olympic Win (EXCLUSIVE)". variety. August 13, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Elon Musk sues Unilever and Mars over X 'boycott'". BBC. August 7, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Texas judge steps aside in Elon Musk's X case against advertisers". NPR. August 13, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Elon Musk's X drops Unilever from advertiser boycott lawsuit". Reuters. October 11, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  14. ↑ "Elon Musk's X is being sued again — this time over $120 million worth of server parts". Business Insider. August 19, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Wiwynn adds two new counts to $61m lawsuit against Elon Musk's X". Data Center Dynamics. October 20, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  16. ↑ "Ex-CNN star Lemon sues Musk over cancelled X show". BBC. August 2, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  17. ↑ "Elon Musk, X Sued by Nine EU Countries Over AI Data Claims". Mexican Business News. August 12, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  18. ↑ "Elon Musk's X Corp sues California to undo content moderation law". Reuters. September 9, 2023.
  19. ↑ https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2024/09/04/24-271.pdf
  20. ↑ "Elon Musk's X wins appeal to block part of California content moderation law". Reuters. September 4, 2024.
  21. ↑ Oremus, Will; Telford, Taylor (May 29, 2024). "Musk tried to 'punish' critics, judge rules, in tossing a lawsuit". The Washington Post . Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  22. ↑ "Elon Musk's X loses lawsuit against Bright Data over data scraping". CNBC. May 10, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  23. ↑ "Musk defeats ex-Twitter staff seeking $500m in severance". BBC. August 30, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
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