The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders on Thursday announced that it is suing the social media company X, accusing it of spreading disinformation.
After Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, discovered that it was the target of a disinformation campaign this past summer, the Paris-based group filed 10 reports of policy violations with X, formerly known as Twitter.
Since none of the posts in question have been removed, RSF opted to sue the company in French courts “for its complicity in disseminating false information, misrepresentation and identity theft,” the group said in a statement.
Idk if you're a native speaker or not, but as a native speaker of American English there is absolutely nothing wrong with this to me. You could put it in about 4 different places:
On Thursday the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders announced ____.
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders on Thursday announced ____.
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders announced on Thursday that ____.
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders announced ____ on Thursday.
The first one typically has a comma after "Thursday". The second one you could offset "on Thursday" with commas. The third one is at best really awkward without a "that" or a question word (who, what, where, why, how) and you could offset "on Thursday"
with commas; you can also drop the "on", in which case you can't use commas. The last one is possible but could be ambiguous (it could be that "on Thursday" is part of their announcement).
It's correct, as much as any English is correct, but not typically spoken naturally like that.
The press (newspapers) has an idiosyncratic grammar, probably born of maximising space in a newspaper column. Headlines are often grammatical nightmares, body copy less so.
One could think of it as a form of semantic compression.
Dialect variation. For me, saying “the car needs washed” sounds truly strange but millions and millions of people say it. You’re experiencing similar with this phrase.
Had they just used some punctuation - "The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders on Thursday, announced", it would have made it easier to get. Even, "The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, on Thursday, announced" would be doable.
I think they have to sue in French court, right? Couldn’t X just “Section 230” them to no end if they sue in America? Ironically, Trump wants to repeal 230 and claim Platforms are actually publishers, but I guess he wants to do that to silence his critics and no real concern for disinformation.