Elon Musk’s lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) after they found a rise of racist and extremist content on X has been dismissed.

The case against CCDH violated California’s strict laws around strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPS).

Musk sued the nonprofit in July 2023 after they published a report accusing Musk of profiting from hate speech published on X from 10 extremist accounts whose bans were lifted by Musk. X Corp. wrote that CCDH gained “unauthorised access to private data”. The company claims that the report has influenced advertisers to spend less money on the site which has cost them millions in revenue.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer dismissed the case and wrote in a 52-page ruling that sometimes it is unclear what drives a lawsuit but in this case it is about “punishing the defendants for speaking out”.

“X Corp. has brought this case in order to punish CCDH for CCDH publications that criticised X Corp.,” he wrote.

Roberta Kaplan, who was recently victorious in her case against former president Donald Trump, is one of the representatives for CCDH. Kaplan said that Musk is a supporter of free speech until people say something he doesn’t like.

“Elon Musk and X Corp. are trying to intimidate and censor a nonprofit that had the courage to speak the truth about the hate that proliferates on X’s platform,” Kaplan said in an email to the Washington Post. “We are proud to stand with CCDH.”

Musk is also facing a class-action lawsuit from past X employees, which accuses the company of failing to pay $500 million in service following the takeover of the platform.