April 23 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's X appealed the

dismissal of its lawsuit against the nonprofit Center for

Countering Digital Hate, which faulted him for letting hate

speech spread on the social media platform once known as

Twitter.

X filed a notice of appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of

Appeals on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco

dismissed X's case on March 25, calling it "evident" that X sued

CCDH to silence critics and punish them for their speech.

Though Musk has long styled himself as a free-speech

champion, X said CCDH's research was scaring advertisers away,

costing it tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in 2022. He is the

world's third-richest person according to Forbes magazine, and

also runs the electric car maker Tesla. The appeal

could take several months or longer.