California Faces Lawsuit from X Regarding Social Media Content Moderation Legislation

The requirement entails that companies divulge information on their approach to addressing hate speech, extremism, and misinformation.

X, the social media company formerly named Twitter, is taking legal action against the state of California over a law called AB 587. This law mandates that social media companies must reveal information about how they manage content moderation, including matters such as hate speech, extremism, misinformation, and their internal moderation procedures.

X’s legal team contends that the law is unconstitutional, asserting that it will result in censorship. In their lawsuit, the company argues that the law’s objective and anticipated outcome are to compel entities like X Corp. to delete, demonetize, or lower the priority of speech protected by the Constitution. They claim that the real intention behind AB 587 is to exert pressure on social media platforms to remove specific constitutionally-protected content that the State deems problematic.

X is not the sole entity opposing the law. Despite receiving support from certain activists, AB 587 faced criticism from several industry groups. Netchoice, a trade association representing companies like Meta, Google, TikTok, and other tech giants, argued last year that AB 587 could potentially assist malicious individuals in circumventing companies’ security measures, thus complicating their ability to enforce their regulations.

Simultaneously, supporters of AB 587 argue that it is crucial to enhance the transparency of prominent platforms. Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, the author of AB 587, responded to X’s lawsuit by stating, “If @X has nothing to conceal, they should have no reason to oppose this legislation.”