Fifth Circuit Stays Broad Discovery Regarding Media Matters Donors in X v. Media Matters
From an opinion issued Sunday by Fifth Circuit Judges Jerry Smith, Graves, and Engelhardt in X Corp. v. Media Matters for America:
In November 2023, X Corp. sued Media Matters, Inc., Eric Hananoki, and Angelo Carusone (collectively, “Media Matters”) for (1) interfering with X Corp.’s contract, (2) disparaging X Corp’s business, and (3) interfering with X Corp.’s prospective economic advantage. X Corp. alleges that Media Matters “knowingly and maliciously” manipulated images to “portray X Corp. as a social media platform dominated by neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism,” which “alienate[d] major advertisers, publishers, and users from X.”
In discovery, X Corp. requested that Media Matters produce the identity of donors, their addresses, and its communications with them. Relevant to this appeal are X Corp.’s Requests for Production 17, 18, 21, and 35:
Request for Production 17. Documents sufficient to show the identity of all Your donors or any others who provide financial support of any kind, their residence, the time and place of their donation or provision of financial support, and the amount of their donations or other financial support.
Request for Production 18. Any document or communication reflecting Your attempts to solicit donations or financial support of any kind, including but not limited to any discussions with any donors or any others who provided, considered providing, or were asked to provide financial support of any kind.
Request for Production 21. All documents and communications regarding Your sources of funding for research, investigation, reporting, publication, or any other work related to X, the Platform, Elon Musk, or Linda Yaccarino.
Request for Production 35. All materials regarding or communications with any donor or potential donor to Media Matters mentioning or regarding in any way this Matter, Elon Musk, Linda Yaccarino, X, Twitter, or the Platform, including misinformation, brand safety, or ad pairing on the Platform.
The panel granted a stay of the district court’s order enforcing the subpoenas:
The district court agreed that Media Matters raises legitimate First Amendment concerns [in objecting to the required disclosures]. So when X Corp. first moved to compel in May 2024, the court didn’t order Media Matters immediately to disclose its purportedly privileged information but, instead, ordered it to log its claims of privilege by Jun
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