Elon Musk’s X Corp. has filed a lawsuit against the State of California over its Assembly Bill 587 (AB 587). This state law mandates social media companies to publicize their content moderation policies. X Corp contests that this law infringes on the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The case was lodged in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California Sacramento Division.
According to X Corp, AB 587 contradicts the First Amendment because its “actual intention is to pressurize social media platforms to ‘eradicate’ certain content safeguarded by the constitution, which the state finds troublesome.” The company claims that “the First Amendment outrightly curbs such meddling with a traditional publisher’s editorial decision.” Moreover, X Corp maintains that AB 587 breaches the Dormant Commerce Clause of the US Constitution as it imposes an “undue and excessive load on interstate commerce.” As per this clause, states are barred from implementing laws that excessively encumber interstate trade. X Corp is seeking declarative and prohibitive relief on these grounds.
AB 587 was implemented into law by California Governor Newsom in September 2022. The legislation necessitates social media companies to reveal how they monitor specific content on their platforms, including the platform’s approach towards hate speech, racism, extremism, radicalisation, misinformation and disinformation, harassment, and foreign political interference. Furthermore, the law obligates these platforms to provide information and statistics about the actions undertaken by them to oversee these categories.
This move by X Corp directly challenges the increasing pressures seen globally for greater transparency from social media platforms. For instance, in June, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner called for Twitter to outline their strategies to combat online hate. Also noteworthy are efforts by US Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Mark Takano (D-CA), who earlier this year urged Musk to address the rise in hate speech on the social media platform since he purchased it in October 2022.
For further details on the ongoing case, visit the original article on JURIST – News.