Elon Musk’s X Corp. is taking legal action against the state of California, challenging the constitutionality of AB 587, a state bill that mandates social media platforms to report their moderation efforts to the state attorney general biannually. The lawsuit alleges that this bill infringes upon both federal and state free speech laws by compelling companies like X Corp. to engage in speech against their will, particularly in defining politically-charged categories like hate speech and racism.
In its complaint, X Corp. highlights the complexity of defining hate speech, misinformation, and other content categories, emphasizing that such definitions can often be influenced by political bias due to the absence of a widely accepted consensus. The company argues that AB 587 forces them to take a stance on these issues.
The suit further claims that the bill’s underlying intention is to pressure social media companies into eliminating constitutionally-protected content that the state deems problematic. Governor Gavin Newsom initially promoted AB 587 as a pioneering measure for social media transparency when he signed it into law in September of the previous year. Similar laws governing social media moderation have emerged in Texas and Florida, awaiting challenges in the Supreme Court.
X Corp. acknowledges that social media moderation remains an ongoing challenge. The company employs various tools, including automated systems and community flagging, for content moderation and fact-checking. Recently, X Corp. introduced Community Notes for videos, enabling “Top Writers” to provide context for potentially misleading content, though concerns about misinformation persist. Meanwhile, Reddit faced criticism for replacing long-standing moderators with potentially less experienced ones, and Bluesky’s moderation approach has raised questions about its impact on fact-checking efforts on the platform.
