March 25 (Reuters) -

A U.S. judge on Monday dismiss X Corp's lawsuit against a

nonprofit group that has criticized a rise in hate speech on the

social media platform once known as Twitter since Elon Musk took

it over.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted

the dismissal request by the Center for Countering Digital Hate,

saying the lawsuit had been brought as a means toward "punishing

the defendants for their speech."

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York)