Imagine what a single tweet from an established billionaire could do to one’s life! Ben Brody’s life turned upside down in a matter of minutes after billionaire Elon Musk used his considerable social media clout to amplify an online mob’s misguided rants accusing the 22-year-old from California of being an undercover agent in a neo-Nazi group.
That single tweet ruined his life overnight as he was branded a spy and became a central character in a story spun by people seeking to deny and downplay the actions of hate groups in the United States today.
Brody resembled a person in the group, he was Jewish and he once posted online during his college days that he aspired to work for the government, gave internet trolls enough information to falsely conclude that he was an undercover agent planted inside the neo-Nazi group to make them look bad.
Following the repercussions, Brody decided to file for a defamation suit against Musk.
In the suit, Brody is seeking damages in excess of $1 million. Brody says he wants the billionaire to apologize and retract the false claims about him.
Brody’s lawyer—who is the same attorney who successfully sued conspiracy theorist Alex Jones over his lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre —said he hopes the suit will force one of the world’s richest and most powerful men to reckon with his careless and harmful online behavior.
“This case strikes at the heart of something that I think is going really wrong in this country,” attorney Mark Bankston said in an interview with CNN.
“How powerful people, very influential people, are being far too reckless about the things they say about private people, people just trying to go about their lives who’ve done nothing to cause this attention.”
