Musk says X will pay legal bills of people ‘unfairly treated’ over posts on platform

Billionaire says mooted fight with Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to be live streamed on his social media platform

Elon Musk's X social media platform is going through organisational changes and seeking to boost falling ad revenue. Photograph: AP
Elon Musk's X social media platform is going through organisational changes and seeking to boost falling ad revenue. Photograph: AP

Elon Musk has said his X social media platform will pay legal bills and sue on the behalf of people who have been treated unfairly by employers because of posting or liking something on the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill,” Mr Musk said in a post on X late on Saturday, adding that there will be no limits to funding the bills.

“And we won’t just sue, it will be extremely loud and we will go after the boards of directors of the companies too,” he added later in response to a post about nothing changing behaviour in the US faster than a threat of legal action.

Late last month, Mr Musk said that monthly users of X had reached a “new high” and shared a graph that showed the latest count at more than 540 million. The figures came as the company goes through organisational changes and seeks to boost falling advertising revenue.

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Competing platform

It was also the latest in a series of comments from X executives claiming strong traction in usage, after Meta Platforms launched a competing platform called Threads on July 5th.

Elon Musk said a mooted fight with Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg would be live-streamed on X. Photograph: Jason Henry/The New York Times
Elon Musk said a mooted fight with Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg would be live-streamed on X. Photograph: Jason Henry/The New York Times

Mr Musk said in another post that a mooted fight with Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg would be live-streamed on X. The two have been egging each other into a mixed martial arts cage match in Las Vegas since June.

“Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X. All proceeds will go to charity for veterans,” Mr Musk said in post on X early on Sunday, without giving any further details. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the post.

After 17 years with an iconic blue bird logo that came to symbolise the broadcasting of ideas to the world, Mr Musk renamed Twitter as X and unveiled a new logo last month, marking a focus on building an “everything app”.

The billionaire had earlier in July said that the platform’s cash flow remains negative because of a nearly 50 per cent drop in advertising revenue and a heavy debt load. An upturn in advertising revenue that was expected in June failed to materialise. - Reuters

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