On Friday, Elon Musk‘s X Corporation sued the California state, over a law needing social media firms to publicly post their policies about hate speech, disinformation, harassment, and extremism.
The parent company of X, formerly known as Twitter, claimed in a federal lawsuit that the law referred to as AB 587 violates its free speech rights.
The suit claimed that the actual purpose of AB 587 is to pressure social media platforms to eliminate specific constitutionally protected content considered by the State as problematic.
The suit added that the state is compelling social media firms to carry public positions on controversial and politically charged issues.
The lawsuit railed against the law, which demands social media firms to publicly post guidelines about hate speech, disinformation, harassment, and extremism on their platforms, and report data on their enforcement of the policies.
Gavin Newsom, California Governor said when he signed the bill into law a year ago, “California will not stand by as social media is weaponized to circulate hate and disinformation that endanger our communities and foundational significances as a nation.”
Newsom added that Californians deserve to comprehend how these platforms are affecting our public speech, and this move gets much-needed clarity and responsibility to the guidelines that shape the social media content we operate every day.
Musk early this week said he is mulling suing the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) which is a leading anti-hate group, claiming that its charges of anti-Semitism have ushered X to lose revenue.
Musk blamed the US-based Jewish organization for creating baseless complaints against him and X that have threatened away advertisers.
In a 2016 report, the ADL said anti-Semitic attacks against journalists had burst on Twitter, “thanks to the rhetoric in the 2016 presidential campaign.”
It blamed the social network for failing to hold its “trolling problem.”
Musk has been accused of fueling anti-Semitic tropes, including attacks against Jewish philanthropist George Soros.
According to the ADL and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), problematic and racist speech has snappily increased on X since Musk took over Twitter in 2022.
