A federal judge in California threw out a lawsuit filed by X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, against a hate speech watchdog on Monday.

Why it matters: The judge ruled the lawsuit was intended to punish the Center for Countering Digital Hate for publishing research suggesting there has been a rise in bigoted speech on the platform since Elon Musk's takeover.

Context: Through the lawsuit, X claimed that the Center for Countering Digital Hate used "flawed methodologies to advance incorrect, misleading narratives" in its reports.

It accused the center of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, intentional interference with contractual relations and inducing breach of contract.
The center denied those claims and accused X and Musk of retaliating against it because of its reports.

What's inside: The judge ruled on Monday that the lawsuit was "unabashedly and vociferously" about "punishing the Defendants for their speech."

The judge approved the center's request to throw out the lawsuit based on California's anti-SLAPP law, which provides defendants a way to quickly dismiss meritless lawsuits if they are being sued for actions that amount to them exercising their freedom of speech, press, assembly or petition.
In addition to tossing the case, the judge also denied X Corp.'s request to re-plead the case.

What they're saying: The center said the ruling "sent a strong message about seeking to censor those who criticize social media companies, which we are confident will resonate throughout Silicon Valley and beyond."

"Today a federal court in San Francisco issued a decision in the case X brought against the Center for Countering Digital Hate for illegally obtaining platform data to create misleading research. X disagrees with the court's decision and plans to appeal," X said in a post on the social media platform. 

Between the lines: Musk, a self-proclaimed free speech "absolutist," has repeatedly claimed that he would protect all forms of speech on Twitter.

In practice, however, the platform has been lenient to those who post hateful or extremist content while cracking down on speech that's critical of the platform or of Musk.

Go deeper: Meta shuts down data tool widely used by journalists

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include responses from the Center for Countering Digital Hate and X.