The latest target of the Trump administration’s revenge tour is a liberal media watchdog that regularly takes on Fox News and went up against Elon Musk in court.
The Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation into Media Matters, a nonprofit whose stated mission is “documenting conservative misinformation,” over whether it illegally colluded with advertisers to pull ad dollars from X after Musk took over the site in 2022, according to The New York Times and Reuters.
A civil investigative demand reviewed by Reuters sought information about Media Matters’ communications with other organizations similarly focused on covering misinformation, including the Global Alliance for Responsible Media. X has ongoing lawsuits against both groups.
“The Trump administration has been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics,” Media Matters President Angelo Carusone told the Daily Beast in a statement.
“It’s clear that’s exactly what’s happening here, given Media Matters’ history of holding those same figures to account,” he added. “These threats won’t work; we remain steadfast to our mission.”
The FTC declined to comment. In a December statement on an unrelated case, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said the agency “must prosecute any unlawful collusion between online platforms, and confront advertiser boycotts which threaten competition among those platforms.”
Media Matters has kept a watchful eye on conservative media since it was launched in 2004, regularly producing research and analyses that cover right-wing news outlets. It often flames Fox News anchors by fact-checking their claims and calling out “spins” made by administration officials in interviews.
The liberal advocacy group has also tussled with Musk. In 2023, after the tech billionaire acquired the site formerly known as Twitter, Media Matters released a report detailing how ads on X for big brands like Apple and IBM appeared next to pro-Nazi and white nationalist content.
Musk filed what he called a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against Media Matters in November that year as advertisers fled X, forcing the organization to lay off a dozen staffers. The world’s richest man later filed two more lawsuits against Media Matters in Ireland and Singapore.
Media Matters said the legal battles have drained its resources. In March, the group filed a new lawsuit against “X’s worldwide campaign of intimidation,” which “seeks to punish Media Matters for exercising its core First Amendment rights.”
The FTC’s investigation into Media Matters marks the latest move by the Trump administration to target its enemies on the political left. Other Democratic-aligned individuals and organizations being probed by the government include fundraising juggernaut ActBlue, multiple Big Law firms, and New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver.
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