FTC Settles With Watchdog Journalism Non-Profit "Media Matters For America”

Following appeal arguments concerning an August 2025 ruling from D.C. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan, the FTC has settled litigation with the left-wing watchdog journalism organization, Media Matters for America.¹ Our post on Judge Sooknanan’s August 2025 order (the “Order”) can be found here.

As set forth in the Order, Media Matters had garnered the attention of Elon Musk when, in 2023, it published an article on the increase in hate speech and offensive content on the social media site Twitter (now “X”) after Musk’s acquisition of the site.² In response, Musk and its subsidiaries sued Media Matters “all over the world, at least until a federal district court preliminarily enjoined this aggressive litigation strategy.”³ The Missouri and Texas Attorneys General also issued civil investigative demands (“CIDs”) to Media Matters, which were enjoined as “likely being retaliatory in violation of the First Amendment.”⁴ On May 20, 2025, the FTC issued a CID to Media Matters seeking a host of records concerning the nonprofit’s reporting and operations.⁵ Media Matters challenged the CID, alleging that the FTC action violated its constitutional rights,⁶ and Judge Sooknanan granted Media Matters’ preliminary injunction to halt the FTC’s CID.⁷

The FTC appealed Judge Sooknanan’s decision to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.⁸ The settlement was announced on May 4, 2026, after oral arguments were held on the appeal,⁹ with each side bearing its own costs.¹⁰ The terms of the FTC’s settlement with Media Matters included the withdrawal of the CID coupled with a pledge not to issue a comparable CID.

The settlement occurred after the FTC withdrew CIDs to Global Disinformation Index and NewsGuard, both of which were contested by the companies.¹¹ Global Disinformation Index publishes research regarding disinformation online, and NewsGuard “provides data, analysis and journalism that helps enterprises and consumers identify reliable information online.”¹² The FTC had investigated the two companies in relation to an investigation into ad agencies who allegedly “unlawfully colluded to impose common ‘brand safety’ standards across the digital advertising industry.”¹³ The ad agencies settled with the FTC, agreeing to a proposed order that would “stop the alleged coordinated conduct and prevent similar conduct from occurring in the future.”¹⁴

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Footnotes

1. Stipulation of Voluntary Dismissal, Civil Action No. 25-cv-1959 (D.D.C. May 4, 2026), available at https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70612884/62/media-matters-for-america-v-federal-trade-commission/.

2. Mem. Op. at 1, Media Matters for Am. v. FTC, Civil Action No. 25-cv-1959 (D.D.C. Aug. 15, 2025); available at Media Matters FTC PI Order.pdf.

3. Id.

4. Id. at 2.

5. Id. at 2, 9.

6. Petition to Quash, FTC File No. 251-0061, available at https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/2510064mediamattersptqredactedpublic.pdf; Compl., Media Matters for Am. v. FTC., Civil Action No. 25-cv-1959 (D.D.C. June 23, 2025), available at https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70612884/1/media-matters-for-america-v-federal-trade-commission/.

7. Id. at 14, 48.

8. Notice of Appeal, Media Matters for America v. FTC, 25-5302 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 19, 2025).

9. Oral argument was held on April 13, 2026. See Media Matters for America v. FTC, 25-5302, Dkt. No. 2168231 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 19, 2025).

10. Stipulation of Voluntary Dismissal, Civil Action No. 25-cv-1959 (D.D.C. May 4, 2026), available at https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.281859/gov.uscourts.dcd.281859.62.0.pdfhttps://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.281859/gov.uscourts.dcd.281859.62.0.pdf.

11. See Notice of Withdrawal of CID, NewsGuard Technologies v. FTC, 1:26-cv-00253 (D.D.C. Apr. 17, 2026); Notice of Withdrawal of CID, Disinformation Index, Inc. v. FTC, 1:25-cv-4127 (D.D.C. Apr. 21, 2026).

12. What We Do, Global Disinformation Index, available at https://www.disinformationindex.org/product; NewsGuard: Global Leader in Information Reliability, NewsGuard, available at https://www.newsguardtech.com/.

13. Press Release, FTC Takes Action to Restore Competition in the Digital Advertising Ecosystem (Apr. 15, 2026), available at https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/04/ftc-takes-action-restore-competition-digital-advertising-ecosystem.

14. Id.