Elon Musk's X Faces Legal Blow In Bid To Overturn California Content Moderation Law

Elon Musk‘s X, formerly known as Twitter, suffered a legal setback in its attempt to overturn a California state law on content moderation.

What Happened: X’s legal challenge against a Californian law mandating public disclosure of content moderation practices by social media platforms was dismissed on Thursday, Reuters reported.

The law, which X argued infringed on its First Amendment rights, necessitates social media companies with substantial annual revenues to provide semiannual reports detailing their content moderation practices.

U.S. District Judge William Shubb rejected X’s request, maintaining that the compliance burden for social media companies, while significant, wasn’t unjustified or overly burdensome in the context of First Amendment law.

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Shubb underscored the “terms of service” requirements as integral to the law, suggesting that their presence could greatly influence users’ dec

isions.

Why It Matters: X’s lawsuit against the Californian content moderation law dates back to September 2023. The company aimed at overturning Assembly Bill No. 587 (AB 587), signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.). This legislation requires social media companies to publicly disclose their policies regarding hate speech, disinformation, harassment, and extremism on their platforms.

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