• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 10, 2025

A federal judge has refused to sign off on a deal that would have paused X Corp's ad-boycott lawsuit against Amazon's Twitch until January 2026.

The deal, unveiled in court papers filed Monday by Elon Musk's X Corp., would have required Twitch to meet certain conditions by the end of the year. X Corp. didn't disclose the details of those conditions.

X Corp. requested that U.S. District Court Judge Jane Boyle in Wichita Falls, Texas, stay its lawsuit against Twitch until January 10, 2026, by which time X Corp. would either officially seek to dismiss all claims against Twitch, or both companies would file a status report.

On Thursday, Boyle rejected that request, writing that it would be “inefficient” to keep the case on her docket for nine months after the parties reached a settlement.

“While parties can structure settlement terms in any manner they see fit, the Court must efficiently manage its docket,” she wrote in a brief order denying the motion to pause the proceedings.

Boyle added that if X Corp. and Twitch have settled the matter, she will stay proceedings for no more than 45 days, to give the companies time to finalize terms.

It's not yet clear whether X Corp. and Twitch will now renegotiate their settlement, or proceed with litigation.

If the companies continue to litigate, Twitch must file an answer to X Corp.'s complaint by no later than May 14.

The dispute dates to November, when X Corp. added Twitch as a defendant to a lawsuit alleging that the World Federation of Advertisers and its now defunct brand safety initiative, Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), sparked a “massive advertiser boycott” that cost the company billions in ad revenue. Other current defendants include Ørsted, Mars, CVS, Abbott, Colgate, Lego, Nestle, Pinterest, Shell, and Tyson.