Musk wins appeal in defamation lawsuit over X post on extremist street brawl

By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - Elon Musk on Friday convinced a Texas appeals court to reject a defamation lawsuit that claimed the billionaire spread lies on his social media platform X, suggesting that a college student participated in an extremist group's street brawl.

The Third District Texas Court of Appeals in Austin reversed a lower court ruling that had allowed the lawsuit by plaintiff Benjamin Brody to move ahead. The appeals court found that Musk's post on the social media platform X that was allegedly related to Brody was a protected statement of opinion.

Musk’s lawyers, Alex Spiro and John Bash, in a statement on Friday said they were pleased with the court’s ruling.

Mark Bankston, an attorney for Brody, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brody’s lawsuit, filed in 2023, alleged Musk falsely suggested in a post on X that Brody took part in a violent Oregon street brawl in June of that year involving a neo-Nazi group.

Brody claimed that users on X misidentified him as a participant, and that Musk amplified that misinformation in a post that said, “Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt).” Brody asserts that the reference was about him.

The lawsuit accused Musk of “astonishingly reckless conduct” and sought more than $1 million in damages.

Musk, who had denied any wrongdoing, countered that his X post was not "of and concerning" Brody, and that it was "not a verifiable statement of fact but rather one of nonactionable opinion."

The appeals court said Musk’s comment did not mention Brody by name.

“We believe a reasonable reader of Musk’s comment who had not seen the earlier tweets — even a reader who was familiar with Brody — would not have concluded that Musk’s comment was referring to Brody,” the appeals court said.

The court also said, “it is a matter of common knowledge, we think, that Twitter posts were not known for rigorous factual accuracy.” Twitter, now called X, “was a platform known for free-flowing debate and the expression of uninhibited opinions,” the panel said.

The case is Elon Musk v. Benjamin Brody, 3rd Court of Appeals, Texas, No. 03-24-00392-CV.

For Musk: Alex Spiro and John Bash of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

For Brody: Mark Bankston of Farrar & Ball

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