X Corporation’s Elon sued California government over the law that aims to bring transparency and extremism. According to the social media site, X, formerly known as Twitter, the Assembly Bill 587 bill violates its free speech rights under the US Constitution’s First Amendment and California’s state constitution.

The social media firm filed a complaint in federal court in Sacramento, California, X. The ‘true intent’ of the law is to pressure social media companies into eliminating content the state found objectionable, alleged the social media firm.

By doing so, California is forcing companies to adopt the state’s views on politically charged issues, “a form of compelled speech in and of itself,” X said.

The micro-blogging site, X, underwent a range of changes after the company was bought by Elon Musk for $44 billion last October. Musk claims himself to be a self-described free speech absolutist. Soon after the takeover, he laid off many employees who were responsible for monitoring and regulating content. He also restored some accounts that prior management had banned.

Rise in cases of hate speeches on X after Musk takeover

The Anti-Defamation League and the Center for Countering Digital Hate documented increases in the volummme of hate speech on X targeting Jews, Black people, gay men and trans people since Musk took over.

Elon Musk also own companies like Tesla and SpaceX. The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, which enforces state laws, said it will respond to the complaint in court.

About the Californian law that has been challenged by Musk

AB 587 law makes it mandatory for social media firms with at least $100 million of gross annual revenue to issue seminnual reports that describe their content moderation practices, and also provide data on objectional posts and how they were addressed.

The law also requires companies to provide copies of their terms of service. Failure to comply risks civil fines of up to $15,000 per violation per day.

Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, signed the law last September, saying the state would not let social media be “weaponized” to spread hate and disinformation.

Musk laid of thousands of employees after taking over the social media company. He alleges critics, including the ADL for a 60% decline in US advertising revenue.

Recently, AJ Brown, former head of brand safety and ad quality at X, said policy changes brought by Muxk limited the visibility of objectionable posts on X rather than removing them made it difficult to convince advertisers the platform was safe.

(With inputs from Reuters)

Updated: 09 Sep 2023, 07:34 AM IST