From today's Texas Court of Appeals decision in Musk v. Brody, decided by Chief Justice (retired) J. Woodfin Jones, joined by Chief Justice Darlene Byrne and Justice Chari Kelly:
On June 24, 2023, two far-right groups—the Proud Boys and the Rose City Nationalists—tried to disrupt a Pride Night event in Portland, Oregon. The two groups, however, ended up clashing with each other, culminating in a violent confrontation caught on video. Although the Rose City Nationalists had arrived wearing masks, the Proud Boys removed some of their masks, exposing to the camera the faces of two Rose City Nationalists members.
The following day, the video of the brawl circulated widely on social media, becoming a popular topic of discussion. As part of that discussion, some right-wing influencers claimed that the Rose City Nationalists at the event were actually undercover federal agents or left-wing provocateurs posing as neo-Nazis. Several of these influencers tried to identify the two unmasked brawlers. For example, TwitterUser#1 tweeted, "Two unmasked members of Patriot Front. These are either federal agents masquerading as racists - OR-Leftists masquerading as far right. Do you know who these people are?"
Within hours, Twitter users tried to answer that question. Some wrongly identified Brody, then a student at the University of California, Riverside, as one of the unmasked brawlers. The basis for that false identification was apparently a resemblance between Brody and one of the unmasked men. TwitterUser#2 responded with a photo of Brody and a screenshot of a social-media post from Brody's college fraternity, which included a sentence from the post stating that "[a]fter graduation [Brody] plans to work for the government." TwitterUser#2 later posted additional images that included Brody's name and stated that a "member of patriot front is ACTUALLY a political science student at a liberal school on a career path toward the feds." Other Twitter users reposted the TwitterUser#2 posts about Brody.
