Follow the Stack · Grievance
Attacks on press & justice
Attacks on journalists, the press, researchers or judges, including lawsuits meant to silence critics.
16 documented facts
By a deed dated 31 July 2025, transferred 98.3% of the shares of his holding company B.A.D. 21 to a new entity named "Lemahieu Holding", after Thomas Lemahieu, the L'Humanité journalist who revealed the Périclès plan. L'Humanité's director, Fabien Gay, called it "an unacceptable provocation, even an attempt at intimidation".
Response: His investment fund Otium Capital declined to comment.
Reacted to Marine Le Pen's conviction for misusing EU funds by accusing the "radical left" of abusing the legal system to jail opponents, then a few days later reposted a Trump message with "Free Le Pen".
“When the radical left can't win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents.”
After federal judge James Boasberg temporarily halted deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, including flights to El Salvador, called him "This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge" on Truth Social and wrote that he "should be IMPEACHED!!!", drawing a rare public rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Response: Chief Justice Roberts stated: "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose." Roberts did not name Trump.
Replied "Necessary" to Rep. Brandon Gill's plan to file articles of impeachment against Judge James Boasberg, who had halted deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. Days later, according to people with knowledge of the matter cited by the Boston Globe, he gave the maximum allowed donation to Gill and six other Republican members of Congress who had endorsed judicial impeachments or called for "action" in response to rulings against the Trump administration. Chief Justice John Roberts said impeachment "is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision".
“Necessary”
As owner of The Washington Post, announced that its opinion section would write every day in defense of "personal liberties and free markets" and leave opposing viewpoints to other publications. Opinions editor David Shipley resigned rather than oversee the change.
“We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We'll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”
His White House barred Associated Press reporters from presidential events, then indefinitely from the Oval Office and Air Force One, because the agency kept using the name "Gulf of Mexico" rather than the "Gulf of America" designation Trump had ordered. AP photographers were still allowed to attend.
Response: Deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said the AP's choice exposed its "commitment to misinformation" and that the First Amendment does not ensure their "privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One".
After US District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued a temporary order on 8 February 2025 blocking DOGE from Treasury Department payment systems and sensitive data, called him "A corrupt judge protecting corruption" and said he "needs to be impeached NOW!"
Blocked The Washington Post, which he owns, from publishing an endorsement of Kamala Harris that the editorial board had drafted, less than two weeks before the 2024 presidential election. The paper announced it would no longer endorse presidential candidates; more than 200,000 subscriptions were cancelled and editorial board members resigned.
Response: In an opinion piece in the Post, Bezos said ending endorsements was meant to avoid a "perception of bias", wrote "No quid pro quo of any kind is at work here", and acknowledged the timing was "inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy".
During X's standoff with Brazil's Supreme Court, which had ordered the suspension of accounts linked to supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro, and after Moraes gave X 24 hours on 28 August 2024 to name a new legal representative in Brazil, called Justice Alexandre de Moraes an "evil dictator cosplaying as a judge" and accused him of "trying to destroy democracy in Brazil". After X failed to name a legal representative, Moraes ordered X suspended nationwide on 30 August 2024.
Response: X said it expected to be shut down "simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents".
A federal judge dismissed X Corp.'s lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit whose reports documented rising hate speech on X and which X blamed for lost advertising. Judge Charles Breyer wrote that the suit was "unabashedly and vociferously about one thing": punishing the nonprofit for its speech.
Response: X said it "disagrees with the court's decision and plans to appeal".
Sued the media watchdog Media Matters for America in federal court in Texas over its research showing ads from major brands next to antisemitic and pro-Nazi content on X, after Musk promised a "thermonuclear lawsuit". X entities later filed similar suits against the group in Ireland and Singapore.
Response: Media Matters called it "a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X's critics into silence" and said it stands behind its reporting. X says the group built misleading images that did not reflect a typical user's experience.
Filed a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post over a May 2023 article on the company's financing ahead of its merger to go public, calling it an "egregious hit piece" and accusing the paper of a "years-long crusade". In July 2026 a federal judge granted summary judgment to the Post, ruling that Trump Media had "failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence" that the Post acted with actual malice.
Response: The Post later corrected the article, stating that discovery had established Trump Media did not pay a $240,000 loan referral fee as originally reported. A Trump Media spokesperson said: "After three years, The Washington Post finally admitted its harmful story was false. We believe a jury should decide whether these falsehoods were actionable and will evaluate whether to appeal last week's ruling in due course."
Labelled NPR's account "state-affiliated media", which its guidelines defined as outlets "where the state exercises control over editorial content", after removing NPR from a line of the policy that had exempted it as a state-financed organisation with editorial independence. NPR said government funding accounts for less than 1% of its annual operating budget. Musk replied "Seems accurate."
Response: NPR's CEO John Lansing called it "unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way".
An internal ByteDance investigation found that employees on a team monitoring staff conduct had accessed the IP addresses and other TikTok data of two journalists, Emily Baker-White (then BuzzFeed, later Forbes) and Cristina Criddle (Financial Times), and of people connected to them, in summer 2022 to try to identify sources of leaks.
Response: ByteDance said all four employees involved were fired, that it had restructured its internal audit and risk team and removed that department's access to US data.
Suspended the accounts of several journalists who cover Musk and the company, including Ryan Mac (New York Times), Donie O'Sullivan (CNN), Drew Harwell (Washington Post) and Micah Lee (The Intercept), after a sudden policy change against sharing real-time location information; the @ElonJet private-jet tracking account had been suspended the day before. On December 17, after a Twitter poll in which about 59% of voters chose immediate restoration, Musk reinstated several of the accounts.
Response: Musk wrote: "Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not".
Acknowledged to The New York Times that he had secretly financed, with about $10 million, Hulk Hogan's privacy lawsuit against the news site Gawker, as part of a years-long plan to fund lawsuits against the company. A Florida jury had awarded Hogan $140 million in damages against Gawker.
“It's less about revenge and more about specific deterrence”
Response: Thiel said: "It's precisely because I respect journalists that I do not believe they are endangered by fighting back against Gawker."