Elon Musk's X is suing state of California: Here's why
Elon Musk-led X has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Sacramento, California, challenging the constitutionality of Assembly Bill 587, a state bill needing social media platforms to report their moderation efforts to the attorney general of the state. The company claims that the bill infringes federal and state free speech laws by forcing them to engage in speech against their will and define categories of speech such as "hate/racism," "misinformation/disinformation," "extremism/radicalization," and "foreign political interference."
Bill was signed into transparency law last year
Signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in September last year, Assembly Bill 587 was promoted as a "nation-leading social media transparency" measure. The bill mandates social media companies to report their moderation efforts to the state attorney general biannually. X argues that the bill infringes on the free speech rights of social media companies by compelling them to define and categorize certain types of "politically-charged" issues.
Defining speech categories: A political minefield
In its complaint against Assembly Bill 587, X contends that defining categories of speech like hate and misinformation is challenging and "often fraught with political bias." The company explains that there's no accepted consensus within the public sphere about what these terms mean, and defining them would force X to take a position on these issues. The lawsuit asserts that the bill is designed to make social media platforms "eliminate" certain constitutionally protected content deemed problematic by the state.
How does X approach content moderation?
The problem of social media moderation still revolves around us. Musk being a self-proclaimed free-speech fundamentalist, fired many of the staff members in charge of policing and monitoring content, and unbanned several accounts, soon after he purchased Twitter (now X) for $44 billion in October 2022. Now, X uses automated systems and community flagging for fact-checking and moderation. Earlier this week, the platform introduced Community Notes for videos, allowing "Top Writers" to provide context to potentially misleading videos.
