Muzzling Media Matters

What he learned next confirmed his worst fears.

Driven by Musk’s public war on the organization, the FTC’s letter demanded that Media Matters turn over a trove of internal records, including communications, budget documents, and any evidence of coordination with other advocacy groups, Status has learned. The probe stems from Musk’s repeated claims that Media Matters and its allies orchestrated a deliberate advertiser boycott of X.

"This demand is issued pursuant to Section 20 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 57b-1, in the course of an investigation to determine whether there is, has been, or may be a violation of any laws administered by the Federal Trade Commission by conduct, activities, or proposed action as described in Item 3," said the letter, a copy of which was seen by Status.

It’s a familiar pattern: Musk claims to be a victim of censorship, even as he leverages his immense wealth and influence to systematically attack and silence his critics. He has already initiated lawsuits against Media Matters in multiple U.S. states and internationally, overtly attempting to punish the group for its reporting on X’s placement of advertisements alongside extremist content. Yet, the FTC's direct involvement escalates the campaign far beyond the confines of a courtroom. It moves it into a far more dangerous space, where the federal government is weaponized to target critics.

It’s difficult to overstate the irony. Musk has positioned himself as a “free speech absolutist,” railing against cancel culture and government overreach (anyone remember the so-called "Twitter Files"?) Yet he’s now the driving force behind an international legal campaign to dismantle a nonprofit media watchdog.

Musk’s efforts have already had serious consequences. Media Matters was forced last year to lay off employees and, thus, scale back some of its work. Those budgetary pressures have not let up. I'm told that the financial strain on the organization is significant. Carusone spends much of his time nowadays traveling across the country, meeting with donors and allies, trying to raise enough funds to keep the group’s head above water.

Of course, if the roles were reversed—if a Democratic administration were using the FTC to target a conservative media watchdog because George Soros didn’t like its reporting—outlets like Fox News would never stop covering it. There would be front-page stories, members of Congress would be pressured to hold hearings, and endless screeds about weaponizing government would saturate social media platforms like X.

In a statement to Status, Media Matters didn’t mince words. It described the FTC probe as a political hit job: “The Trump administration has been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics. It’s clear that’s exactly what’s happening here, given Media Matters’ history of holding those same media figures to account. These threats won’t work; we remain steadfast to our mission.”

That mission—monitoring right-wing voices across YouTube, podcasts, cable news, and social media—has never been more urgent. Under Trump’s second term, many of the figures Media Matters has long scrutinized have been elevated into positions of real power. The fringe is now the establishment. And they’re now attempting to muzzle the watchdogs in plain sight.

• A federal appeals court declined to intervene in Trump’s attempt to dismantle Voice of America. The outlet’s bureau chief said they are "devastated.” [NPR]

• Politico staffers say A.I. provisions in their contract have been violated, and they’re preparing a legal battle with management. [Wired]

• Will Lewis sent a memo to staffers at The WaPo saying he looks forward to the newsroom returning of the office full time on June 2. Some found the timing interesting, given the recent whispers of buyouts or other cuts on the horizon.

  • "He never acknowledged the Pulitzers and hasn’t had a town hall in a year," one staffer added to me. "You can see his priorities."

• In attendance at Jessica Lessin’s annual invite-only media summit out in Wyoming, per Lachlan Cartwright: Joe Kahn, Ben Smith, Kevin Merida, Claire Howorth, Rebecca Blumenstein, S. Mitra Kalita, Noah Shachtman, Brad Stone, and others. [Breaker]

  • “They heard from Instagram chief executive Adam Mosseri, as well as Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Anduril Industries CEO Brian Schimpf,” Cartwright reported.

• Lauren Sherman dug into the race to become the next editor of Vanity Fair, naming—and evaluating—some of the potential candidates. [Puck]

• The Washington Post hired Kimi Yoshino, the founding editor of The Baltimore Banner, as a managing editor. [WaPo]

• Status Scoop | HuffPost hired Kelly Caminero as senior photo editor and Redmond Carolipio as a copy editor.

• The WSJ hired Clara Hudson to cover sustainable businesses. [TBN]

• CNBC hired Elaine Yu as a China reporter, based in Hong Kong. [TBN]

Soon-Shiong's Vaccine Shift: Just a few years ago, billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong was spending millions of dollars trying to develop a COVID-19 vaccine of his own. Today, he's spreading fear about them. The Los Angeles Times owner highlighted a GOP Senate report Thursday, playing up "the risk of myocarditis and other adverse events" following vaccination for the virus. "It's not a conspiracy if it's true," Soon-Shiong posted on X. That’s a bold claim coming from a man who not only tried to create his own vaccine, but whose newsroom enforced some of the strictest return-to-office protocols in the industry. Soon-Shiong himself was famously cautious—masking and even wearing gloves at outdoor events, I'm told. But times have changed. With his eye on getting other drugs through Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s FDA, Soon-Shiong appears to be making a calculated pivot. The science hasn’t changed, but his incentives sure have.

• This type of thing keeps happening: A Daily Caller reporter asked Karoline Leavitt whether Donald Trump accepts the findings of the FBI—now led by Kash Patel and Dan Bongino—that there was no broader conspiracy behind the assassination attempt on him. Leavitt didn't really answer. [Mediaite]

• Leavitt did lash out at Yamiche Alcindor for asking about the lies Trump told in the Oval Office during his meeting with South Africa's leader. [Mediaite]

• Jimmy Kimmel slammed Trump’s bogus “white genocide” claims: "Say what you want about Joe Biden being old. He never forced other world leaders to watch deepfake videos posted by ‘meemaw’ on Facebook.” [YouTube]

• Most transparent? The White House removed official transcripts of Trump’s public remarks from its website, replacing them with selected videos. [NBC]

• After demanding government cuts, Jeanine Pirro posted a video whining that she has to pay for bottled water at her U.S. attorney’s office. [Huffpost]

• Ben Shapiro keeps speaking out (while still maintaining his support for Trump): "Many of the organizations that Donald Trump Jr. is connected to are making an enormous amount of money during this period of time when his father is president." [MMFA]

• A Cambridge student engaged in a lengthy—and rather remarkable—debate with Charlie Kirk, taking him to task on a number of issues. [Mediaite]

• More blue checks are coming to Bluesky! The platform is now allowing notable figures to apply for the coveted symbols. [TechCrunch]

• Apple plans to launch its first smart glasses at the end of next year as it looks to infuse gadgets with A.I. capabilities, Mark Gurman reported. [Bloomberg]

• Microsoft employees discovered the company is blocking emails that contain “Palestine” or “Gaza” after employee protests. [The Verge]

• OpenAI finance chief Sarah Friar said acquiring Jony Ive’s firm will lead to A.I. hardware boosting ChatGPT subscriptions in “new era” of computing. [CNBC]

• Melania Trump released an audiobook of her memoir narrated by an artificial intelligence mimicking her real voice. [ABC]

• Amazon-backed Anthropic released its latest A.I. model Claude 4, touting its ability to autonomously work for seven hours straight. [Ars Technica]

• Google is funding short films about A.I. that portray the technology in a less sinister light than in many Hollywood sci-fi depictions. [LAT]

• Disney sued YouTube after announcing it had long-time executive Justin Connolly to serve as its global head of media and sports. [Bloomberg]

• Lionsgate—with no Starz—swung to $21.9 million in quarterly profit. [THR]

• Warner Bros. Production boss Michele Imperato Stabile announced she will retire in October. [The Wrap]

• Prime Video unscripted chief Jenny Falkoff jumped to Netflix. [Deadline]

• Amazon is selling tentpoles like “Citadel” and “Rings of Power” in territories where Prime already streams. [Ankler]

Box Office Heatwave: The summer box office is coming in hot! After a lackluster 2024, Memorial Day weekend is poised to deliver record attendance in theaters with Disney’s live-action remake of “Lilo & Stitch” on track to bring in north of $190 million over the four-day weekend. That figure would easily break the all-time record for a Memorial weekend frame. Meanwhile, “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is set to swing past the $75 million mark, outpacing the Tom Cruise franchise’s previous high water mark with 2018’s “Fallout.” All combined, the weekend could print $325 to $365 million in box office receipts, pushing what has already been a great year for Hollywood in theaters to historic heights, and setting the stage for a sizzling summer.

• Oh no! Disney delayed the release of Marvel Studios‘ “Avengers: Doomsday” to December 2026 and “Avengers: Secret Wars” to December 2027. [Variety]

• Kid Cudi testified his car was set on fire with a Molotov cocktail after Sean “Diddy” Combs learned he was in a relationship with Cassie Ventura. [LAT]

• Justin Baldoni dropped his subpoena for Taylor Swift amid his ongoing legal battle with Blake Lively over their “It Ends With Us” feud. [Deadline]

• Music agent Dave Shapiro and ex Devil Wears Prada rocker Daniel Williams were among 3 killed in a plane crash into a San Diego neighborhood. [SDUT]

• Neon picked up Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident” after debuting to a 10-minute ovation. [IndieWire]

• The final season of Netflix thriller “You” took the top spot on the Nielsen streaming charts. [THR]

• Lionsgate is expected to push back the release of its Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” to next year. [The Wrap]