Judge Overseeing X Corp. Advertiser Litigation Recuses Himself

The federal judge in Texas overseeing Elon Musk’s X Corp. lawsuit against advertisers recused himself from the case without explanation Tuesday.

Judge Reed O’Connor of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas said in a two-sentence letter filed on the docket that the case should be assigned to another judge through the usual procedure. The case has landed with Judge Ed Kinkeade.

X Corp., formerly known as Twitter, sued the World Federation of Advertisers on Aug. 6 accusing the industry group of violating antitrust laws for an advertising boycott that cost the social media company billions of dollars. X claims the group coordinated the boycott in 2022 after Musk acquired it for $44 billion.

Last year, O’Connor was assigned a case involving X after Judge Matt Pittman recused himself without reason. That lawsuit alleging Media Matters, a left-leaning non-profit, was trying to “drive advertisers” off the platform.

The case is X v. World Federation of Advertisers, N.D. Tex., No. 7:24-cv-00114, 8/13/24.