Yes, X’s updated terms of service state that lawsuits must be filed in Texas

In the week since the 2024 general election, there has been a mass exodus from Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, as many users look for alternative places to post their thoughts and engage with others online.

For example, on Nov. 13, The Guardian published an article saying it would no longer post on X because of “far right conspiracy theories and racism.” On the same day, former CNN journalist Don Lemon posted on X that he was leaving the platform because he felt X was no longer a place for “honest debate and discussion.” 

In his statement, Lemon claimed that X’s updated terms of service, which went into effect on Nov. 15, state that lawsuits against the company must now be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas rather than the Western District of Texas, where the company moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Bastrop, near Austin, in September.

“As the Washington Post recently reported on X’s decision to change the terms, this ‘ensures that such lawsuits will be heard in courthouses that are a hub for conservatives, which experts say could make it easier for X to shield itself from litigation and punish critics.’ I think that speaks for itself,” Lemon wrote, citing an article titled, “For legal disputes, Elon Musk’s X picked a venue far from Texas HQ.”  

Others on X have made similar claims. 

THE QUESTION

Does X’s updated terms of service state that lawsuits must be filed in the Northern District of Texas?

THE SOURCES

• X Terms of Service
• Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, an independent nonprofit that defends the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age 
• Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH)
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• Jason Friedman, J.D., an attorney at Friedman & Feiger law firm in Dallas, Texas
• Symone Redwine, J.D., an attorney, legal analyst and law professor at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University
• Steve Vladeck, J.D., professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center

THE ANSWER

Yes, X’s updated terms of service state that lawsuits must be filed in the Northern District of Texas. 

WHAT WE FOUND

X’s updated terms of service, which went into effect on Nov. 15, state that “all disputes related to these Terms or the Services …. will be brought exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas.” 

Legal experts say these courts are in conservative-leaning districts and may be more likely to rule in Elon Musk’s favor. The company itself is based in the Western District of Texas, which is less conservative. 

The revised terms also include a provision on “liquidated damages,” which requires users to agree that if they violate the company’s terms of service for the purpose of “requesting, viewing, or accessing more than 1,000,000 posts” in 24 hours, they will be liable for $15,000. 

Nearly a month before X revised its terms, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University issued a statement saying that the terms of service change “will stifle independent research.” 

“The move appears related to a recent court decision dismissing X Corp.’s suit against a non-profit research group, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, for scraping publicly available posts from the company’s platform,” the Knight Institute said on Oct. 17. 

In November 2022, an analysis by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms found that the number of posts containing one of several different racial slurs soared in the week after Musk bought Twitter, now X.

The researchers looked at nearly 80,000 English-language tweets and retweets from around the world that contained one of the offensive terms they searched for. The study found a racial epithet used to attack Black people was found more than 26,000 times, three times the average for 2022. 

The study also found that the use of a slur that targets transgender people increased by 53%, while instances of an offensive term for gay men went up 39% over the yearly average. Examples of offensive terms used to target Jews and Hispanics also increased.

In July 2023, Musk and X filed a lawsuit against CCDH, blaming the nonprofit for “tens of millions of dollars” in lost advertising revenue after the organization reported on hate speech and misinformation on the social media platform. In response, lawyers for CCDH filed a motion to strike X’s claims under California’s law against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP). 

Less than a year later, in March 2024, a federal court in California, where X was previously headquartered, dismissed the company’s lawsuit against CCDH “because the only damages X could point to flow from the research group’s speech, which is protected by the First Amendment,” according to the Knight Institute. X appealed that judgment. 

On Nov. 14, CCDH announced it was leaving X on its website, citing the terms of service change “to require that all legal disputes related to the platform’s new rules ‘will be brought exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas.’”  

“Musk is changing X’s terms of service to ensure that future legal assaults are presided over by judges he feels will be on his side,” CCDH said. 

Dallas attorney Jason Friedman and Symone Redwine, an attorney, legal analyst and influencer, told VERIFY partner station WFAA the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and Tarrant County courts are both conservative-leaning districts.

“That was a decision made by X looking for legal decisions made by more conservative judiciaries,” Friedman said, noting it is common for companies to designate courts in user agreements. “They do that usually because that’s their home state and they don’t want to end up in lawsuits in 50 different states with 50 different laws.” 

Georgetown University law professor Steve Vladeck accused Musk of “quintessential forum shopping” which is the practice of identifying a court or district where one believes they will receive a favorable ruling, according to the Washington Post report. 

Vladeck added that 10 of the 11 active judges in the Northern District were appointed by a Republican president, compared with six of 11 judges in the Western District of Texas, where X is now headquartered. 

“Whoever wrote these terms of service appears to believe that conservative judges are more likely to rule for X in the typical case than randomly selected judges across the country,” Vladeck told the Washington Post. 

VERIFY reached out to X for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication. 

Friedman and Redwine recommend using X at your own risk and fully reading the revised terms of service.

WFAA reporter Brittani Moncrease and The Associated Press contributed to this report.