Elon Musk Sues California, Citing Free Speech Violation in Content Regulation Law

Quincy Jon, Tech Times 10 September 2023, 11:09 am

X, owned by Elon Musk, has sued California over its content moderation policy disclosure law. The social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, claims that the legislation violates its First Amendment rights in a lawsuit filed on Friday against California's Attorney General, Robert Bonta.

Social media sites are already required to declare their content moderation standards under California legislation known as Assembly Bill 587 (AB587). Additionally, the California legislation mandates that these online platforms submit to the state biennial reports detailing their efforts to tackle racism, disinformation, hate speech, and other related problems.

Elon Musk Pushes Free Speech on Social Media

The X suit claims AB587 "compels companies to engage in speech against their will" and violates the social media firm's constitutionally protected editorial judgments, as reported for AP News. Additionally, it asserts that businesses are under pressure from the government to delete or demonetize anything that would qualify as constitutionally protected speech.

Elon Musk's $44 billion purchase of Twitter last October deepened his X Corp. participation. Musk, who is well-known for his unwavering support for free speech, then started firing employees in charge of content management and monitoring. He also unbanned accounts that the previous administration had banned, per Reuters.

Following Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, critics have expressed alarm about the surge in hate speech on X Corp's platform, which targets diverse groups, including Jews, black people, homosexual men, and transgender people. The Defamation League and Center for Countering Digital Hate report these increases.

Rob Bonta's office, which is in charge of upholding state laws in California, has declared that it will reply to the complaint within the court's jurisdiction.

Social Media Content Regulation: A Complex Issue

The passage of AB587 by California Governor Gavin Newsom last year was a key step in enhancing social media corporations' openness. After being filed in 2021, the measure was subject to over two years of legal debate and opposition from social media companies.

The bill's author, Jesse Gabriel, defended it, highlighting its non-intrusive character. Assembly Bill 587 "is a pure transparency measure that simply requires companies to be upfront about if and how they are moderating content," as per PC Mag. Gabriel noted that the legislation passed with strong, bipartisan support because it does not require content moderation policies.

The X Corp. case emphasizes the challenges in defining terms like hate speech, false information, and political intervention and asserts that these definitions frequently suffer from political prejudice and lack of public consensus. The business asserts that it is forced to take certain stances by designating these categories.

According to a report from The Verge, X uses community flagging and automated technologies for content control and fact-checking. The business just launched "Community Notes for Videos," allowing "Top Writers" to provide context for possibly deceptive films. However, such actions raise questions about their capacity to spread false information. Meanwhile, social media networks like Reddit and Bluesky have struggled with moderation and fact-checking suppression.