Thread by @BankstonAtLaw

In 2018, I filed the first defamation lawsuits against Alex Jones, ultimately discrediting him in court. Today, I am proud to announce I have filed suit against yet another notorious disseminator of false information: The owner of this platform, Elon Musk.

This new lawsuit was filed on behalf of Ben Brody, a 22-year-old recent college graduate who has been forced to take action due to Musk’s astonishingly reckless conduct here on Twitter.

So it seems fitting to post a Twitter thread to provide some information for the media and public about the case. Here is my statement:

The lawsuit alleges that on June 27th, in yet another example of his growing tendency to spread false information, Musk falsely told the world there was evidence indicating Ben Brody participated in a violent street brawl on behalf of a neo-Nazi extremist group.

Musk also falsely told the world that that Ben Brody’s alleged participation in the extremist brawl meant the incident was probably a “false flag” operation to deceive the American public.

Musk made these ridiculously false and damaging accusations based on a tweet he had seen from an anonymous rightwing extremist Twitter account from the revolting “Groyper” subculture. Musk amplified the accusations for two days before finally defaming Ben himself on June 27th.

You can read the entire lawsuit posted at the bottom of the article below, and I will also summarize some of the details here.

huffpost.com/entry/elon-mus…

The story begins on June 24th during Portland’s Pride Night, when multiple rightwing extremist groups, irritated and triggered by the idea of public solidarity with queer people, decided to attend the event to vent their bigotry and intimidate Pride Night celebrants.

However, during the event, a street brawl developed between a group of extremist Proud Boys and rival group Rose City Nationalists, a fellow rightwing extremist gang that uses neo-Nazi aesthetics.

During the brawl, two masked members of the Rose City Nationalists had their masks removed. Video of the incident went viral on June 25th. Numerous online influencers urged their followers to identify the unmasked members.

An anonymous internet user located a photo of Ben Brody on the social media account of his Jewish fraternity at UC Riverside. Based on nothing more than a passing resemblance between Ben and the unmasked neo-Nazi, an accusation was made.

The social media post for Ben’s fraternity stated that Ben planned to work for the government after college. Online accusers insisted this meant Ben was participating in a “false flag” to create an illusion of white supremacist gangs.

On June 25th, a Dogecoin-themed Twitter user showed Musk a tweet from an anonymous rightwing extremist “Groyper” account making the accusation against Ben Brody, which included screenshots of the fraternity’s social media post stating Ben planned to work for the government.

Musk responded by stating, “Very odd.” While not yet defamation, this was already pretty bad. Musk was amplifying unvetted slander against an innocent young man being disseminated by an anonymous extremist troll and an anonymous cryptocurrency fan.

As detailed in Ben’s lawsuit, numerous Twitter users began immediately informing Musk that Ben was innocent.

Yet early the next morning, on June 26th, Musk also responded to Twitter user Matt Wallace, a cryptocurrency YouTuber who frequently vies for Musk’s attention, after Wallace tweeted the same screenshots noting that Ben planned to work for the government.

Musk responded, “Always remove their masks.” This wasn’t defamation either, but he’s getting closer. And again, Musk was helping disseminate a bogus accusation against an innocent and increasingly terrified young man, which is just an objectively awful thing to do.

That same morning, Ben made an Instagram video trying to dispel the accusations. He also posted screenshots of debit card payments in Riverside. He even went as far to request video footage from a restaurant he visited at the time of the brawl, which he also posted.

Throughout the day, Twitter users continued to inform Musk that Ben Brody was innocent, and many of them provided a link to Ben’s Instagram video. But it was to no avail.

The following day, on June 27th, Musk threw the full weight of his celebrity behind the accusation and defamed Ben. He did it in a response to a tweet from anonymous blog “ZeroHedge.”

ZeroHedge is a notorious blog that has trafficked in some of the ugliest smear campaigns on the internet. It is well known for the role it played in spreading false facts about the victims and parents of the Sandy Hook shooting.

In fact, as seen in the clip below, InfoWars’ response to one of ZeroHedge’s blog posts on Sandy Hook was the impetus of one of the lawsuits I brought against Alex Jones. Irony loves company it seems.

In this case, ZeroHedge’s tweet on June 27th stated, “Patriot Front ‘White Supremacist’ Unmasked as Suspected Fed.”

Musk responded to the ZeroHedge tweet, and he declared to the world, “Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt) and another is maybe an Antifa member, but nonetheless a probable false flag situation.”

Readers of the tweet who were familiar with the rumor immediately understood Musk was referring to Ben Brody by “the college student (who wants to join the govt).” In fact, numerous Twitter users replied to Musk’s tweet throughout the day telling him that he was wrong about Ben.

But it didn’t matter. Musk’s endorsement of the accusation galvanized other social media users and influencers to continue their attacks and harassment, as well as post and share accusations against Ben that will remain online forever.

Ben’s lawsuit discusses the aftermath of this incident, but in short, Ben and his family were doxed and suffered an enormous wave of harassment and threats from belligerent strangers.

Being defamed by someone as famous as Musk was an utterly terrifying experience, and it has left Ben stunned, disoriented, and worried about the consequences on his future.

In the weeks following Musk’s statements, it was apparent to Ben that his reputation had been catastrophically damaged and that a huge number of people believed he was either a neo-Nazi or a provocateur in a “psyop” to commit political terrorism on American soil.

Even apart from the damage to his reputation, Ben and his family were put through weeks of terror due to Musk’s recklessness, and now Ben finds himself depressed, freaked out, and mentally distraught at the crucial moment when he exits college and enters his career path.

Musk was informed through his attorneys on August 9thof the circumstances supporting Ben’s claim for defamation, as well as Ben’s distress that Musk had not taken any steps to retract his accusation.

In response, Musk refuses to issue a retraction, declined to apologize, and will not engage in any discussion whatsoever about Ben’s defamation claim. In fact, Musk’s attorney indicated Musk will seek to shift fees if Ben attempts a lawsuit.

In other words, if Ben even tries to seek redress in court for what happened to him, he must risk having the wealthiest man on the planet seek to collect fees against him.

Ben is undeterred. He understands that a lawsuit is the only way he will be able to truly clear his name or change Musk’s behavior. He is unbelievably brave to take on this challenge.

I’ll be posting updates about the progress of the case on this Twitter account when I can. I’m also going to try to answer some questions I anticipate some of you may have. For example:

Question: Can Ben prevail if Musk didn’t identify him by name?

Yes, the law has always recognized this.

It is not necessary for Ben to be identified by name if people understood from reading Musk’s tweet that it referred to Ben. See Backes v. Misko, 486 S.W.3d 7, 24-25 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2015).

Defamation occurs whenever there is a “reasonable inference that some people” who read the statement understood that it referred to the plaintiff.

In the replies to Musk’s June 27th tweet, it’s clear that numerous readers understood the tweet to refer to Ben Brody. Many readers were already familiar with the rumor about Ben, and they understood Ben was “the college student (who wants to work for the govt).”

If fact, it is not even necessary to prove Musk intended to refer to Ben (though he obviously did). It is enough if the reader correctly -- or even mistakenly but reasonably -- concludes it was intended to refer to the plaintiff. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 564.

Question: Does the law allow Musk to escape responsibility by using the phrase “looks like” in his tweet?

No, it certainly does not. Quite the opposite.

“Looks like” in this context means “the information I have seen indicates.” As the Supreme Court held in Milkovich, if a speaker gives their personal assessment of facts, and they do not disclose the source of their information, they are liable if their conclusion is false.

For this reason, a speaker cannot insulate themselves from liability by using words like “I suspect,” “I believe,” “It appears that,” or “In my opinion.”

Importantly, there was no mention of Ben wanting to work for the government anywhere in the ZeroHedge tweet or blog post. Musk acquired information elsewhere, and he did not disclose where in his June 27th tweet.

Readers of Musk’s tweet could not assess the quality of Musk’s source (which in truth was a weirdo extremist Groyper). They simply had to take his word for it that he had seen information supporting the rumor that Ben was the unmasked neo-Nazi.

Question: Will Musk really try to have the lawsuit dismissed as frivolous and seek legal fees against Ben?

I don’t know. Maybe? Who knows at this point?

But Ben does know that unless he attempts to hold Musk accountable for such a reckless false statement, many people will continue to believe the accusation or view him with a cloud of suspicion.

And Ben knows that unless he takes action, Musk is likely to do the same thing to someone else, and it will be sooner rather than later. There would be no incentive for this behavior to change.

So now Ben turns to the courts to uphold a very simple concept: What Elon Musk has been doing to Ben and others is not tolerable. Win or lose, it is necessary that Ben take a stand and have his case heard in the justice system, regardless of Musk’s power or wealth.

Musk will not stop until someone stops him. It seems that responsibility now falls upon a shy 22-year-old whose life has been shaken by Musk’s reckless conduct. I am honored to assist him.

You can read the entire lawsuit here:

scribd.com/document/67487…