Defamation Lawsuit Filed Against Elon Musk for False Neo-Nazi Accusation on X

A defamation lawsuit has been filed against Elon Musk, accusing him of tarnishing the reputation of a recent college graduate from California. Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), alleged that the graduate was an undercover federal agent collaborating with a neo-Nazi group operating in the Pacific Northwest.

The controversy began when members of the Rose City Nationalists, a local group, had their identities exposed during an altercation at an LGBTQ pride event in Oregon. Following the release of footage from the incident on social media, some X users mistakenly identified one of the individuals involved as Benjamin Brody, a 22-year-old who was a member of a Jewish fraternity. On his fraternity's website, Brody had expressed an interest in pursuing a career in government service. Musk amplified these baseless claims on X, characterizing the event and Brody's alleged involvement as a "probably false flag situation."

Musk's extensive presence on the platform led to a surge of hate and harassment directed at Brody. The lawsuit contends that Brody and his family were subjected to repeated doxing and an overwhelming wave of harassment from strangers.

"Two weeks after Musk's statements, it became evident to Ben that his reputation had been severely damaged, with a significant number of people believing he was either a neo-Nazi or part of a deceptive 'psyop' for political terrorism," the lawsuit states.

This is not the first time Musk has faced a defamation lawsuit due to his inflammatory and careless remarks. In a previous case, British cave diver Vernon Unsworth sued Musk for referring to him as a "pedo guy" during a contentious exchange related to the 2018 rescue operation to save a group of children trapped in a cave in Thailand.