JEFFERSON CITY 鈥 Missouri鈥檚 Republican attorney general has waded into an ongoing dispute between billionaire Elon Musk and a liberal advocacy group that erupted amid controversy over Musk鈥檚 endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory last week.
Bailey said Sunday his team was 鈥渓ooking into this matter鈥 the day after Musk promised 鈥渢hermonuclear鈥 legal action against Media Matters for America and others, alleging a 鈥渇raudulent attack鈥 on his social media company X, formerly known as Twitter.
Musk sparked criticism Wednesday after he told an X user that the user was speaking the 鈥渢ruth鈥 when the user said Jews hated white people and expressed general indifference toward antisemitism.
The next day, that ads for major brands had been placed alongside pro-Nazi content on X.
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Major companies such as Apple, IBM, Disney, Comcast and others they had either pulled advertising or were pulling ads from X, The Washington Post reported.
Musk early Saturday that X will file a 鈥渢hermonuclear lawsuit鈥 against Media Matters and 鈥淎LL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company.鈥
Media Matters president Angelo Carusone responded in a statement: 鈥淔ar from the free speech advocate he claims to be, Musk is a bully who threatens meritless lawsuits in an attempt to silence reporting that he even confirmed is accurate.
鈥淢usk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified. If he does sue us, we will win,鈥 Carusone said.
Musk denied that he was antisemitic in Sunday post.
鈥淣othing could be further from the truth,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.鈥
Also Sunday, X user Jack Posobiec had accused Media Matters of 鈥渃reat(ing) accounts and gam(ing) the X server to create false impressions for their article.鈥
In response to Posobiec鈥檚 post, Stephen Miller, who worked in former President Donald Trump鈥檚 White House, said fraud was a civil and criminal violation and noted there were 鈥2 dozen+ conservative state Attorneys General鈥 in the United States.
鈥淚nteresting,鈥 Musk replied. 鈥淏oth civil and criminal ...鈥
Said Posobiec, in response to Musk, 鈥淚f only there were AGs in states where there are X users willing to stand up against Media Matters fraud...鈥
Bailey later posted: 鈥淢y team is looking into this matter,鈥 winning an attaboy from Musk.
鈥淕reat!鈥 Musk said.
Bailey鈥檚 announcement came as his opponent in the Aug. 6 Republican primary, Will Scharf, was set to be in the spotlight Monday as he argued against a limited gag order imposed against Trump in one of the criminal cases against the former president.
Bailey鈥檚 post as of Monday afternoon had been seen more than 1.7 million times. Meanwhile, a Friday post by Scharf on Trump鈥檚 legal defense had been viewed 47,000 times as of Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
