The federal judge responsible for overseeing Elon Musk’s X Corp. lawsuit against advertisers has recused himself from the case. Judge Reed O’Connor of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas submitted a brief letter stating that the case should be reassigned to another judge through the standard procedure. The lawsuit has now been transferred to Judge Ed Kinkeade.
X Corp., formerly known as Twitter, filed the lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers on August 6, accusing the organization of violating antitrust laws through a coordinated advertising boycott that allegedly cost the company billions. The boycott was reportedly initiated in response to Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform.
This is not the first time Judge O’Connor has been involved with legal matters concerning X Corp. Last year, he took over a case in which X Corp. sued Media Matters, a non-profit, claiming that it was attempting to “drive advertisers” off the platform. That case was previously handled by Judge Matt Pittman, who also recused himself without providing reasons.
The recusal in the current litigation follows the same pattern, with Judge O’Connor offering no explanation for his decision. The case is X v. World Federation of Advertisers, N.D. Tex., No. 7:24-cv-00114, 8/13/24.
For more details on the judge’s recusal and the case background, visit Bloomberg Law.