X’s objection to the idea of ​​buying InfoWars is a reminder that you don’t own your social media accounts

On Monday, X objected in The Onion’s bid to buy InfoWars out of bankruptcy. In the objection, Elon Musk’s lawyers argued that X has “overall ownership” of all accounts of X, that it objects to the inclusion of InfoWars and related Twitter accounts in the bankruptcy auction, and that the court should therefore prevent their transfer to the Onion .

The legal basis that X claims in the case is not very interesting. But the interesting thing is that X has decided to get involved at all, and that highlights it you don’t own your followers or your account or anything on the company’s social mediaand it also highlights the fact that Elon Musk’s X is primarily a political project he uses to boost, or stifle, specific views and help his friends. In the filing, X’s lawyers essentially say — like many other software companies and, increasingly, device makers — that the company’s terms of service grant X’s users a “license” to use the platform, but that X ultimately owns all accounts on the social network and can do anything with them.

“Few bankruptcy courts have addressed the issue of ownership of social media accounts, and those courts that have have focused on whether an individual or the individual’s employer owned an account that was used for business purposes—not whether the social media company had overall ownership of either the individual or the company,” write Musk’s lawyers.