Elon Musk’s X Corp sues California over content moderation law.

Elon Musk’s X-Corp ‍Challenges ⁤California’s Online​ Content Moderation ‍Law

Elon Musk’s X-Corp has taken a stand against a ​groundbreaking online content​ moderation law in California. The company argues that the law puts undue ⁤pressure ‍on social media ⁤platforms to censor discourse that state officials deem problematic.

X, formerly known as Twitter, has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for⁢ the Eastern District of California against the new law AB 587. This law requires social media companies to publicly disclose their moderation ⁣practices ⁤in categories⁣ that the ‌state may label as misinformation/disinformation, extremism/radicalization, and hate speech. Failure to comply could result in fines imposed by the ‍state.

However,⁢ with Musk’s commitment to restoring a marketplace of ideas on ⁤his content moderation law.”>newly ‌rebranded billion social media⁤ company, X Corp. argues that California’s new law infringes upon the First Amendment rights protected by the U.S. and California constitutions.

“Because X Corp. must⁤ take such positions ⁣on ⁣these topics as ⁣they are formulated by ​the State, X Corp. is ⁢being ​forced to adopt​ the State’s politically-charged terms, which is a form ​of compelled speech in and of itself,”‍ the lawsuit alleges.

“AB 587⁢ thus mandates X Corp. to speak about sensitive, ⁢controversial topics about which it ⁣does not wish to speak ‌in the hopes of pressuring X Corp. to limit constitutionally-protected content on its platform that the state apparently finds objectionable or undesirable,” the ⁣suit says.

Lawmakers argue that the content moderation practice is simply a “transparency ​measure”⁣ that requires⁢ social media companies to make their moderation ⁣policies and statistics publicly available.

Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel​ (D-Encino), the bill’s author, responded to the lawsuit by stating that AB 587 is “a pure transparency measure that simply requires companies to be upfront ​about if and how they are moderating content.”

“It in no way requires any specific content moderation policies,” he added. “If Twitter has nothing to hide,‍ then they should have no ‍objection to this bill.”

This lawsuit by X Corp. follows a ‍separate litigation brought forward by satire news website Babylon Bee, podcaster Tim Pool, and Minds, Inc. against California’s attorney general to prevent the enforcement⁢ of‍ the content moderation law.

“If Big Tech is tasked ⁢by the state with eliminating hateful⁤ or misinformative content, they’ll stuff ⁣everything they‍ don’t like into those categories, including opinions, jokes, and‍ even factual statements,” said Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon. “We’ve ⁢already experienced it first hand.”

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, upon signing the bill into law, emphasized the need to combat⁤ the spread of hate and disinformation on social media. However, ⁢critics like Dillon argue that the law is too vague and amounts to censorship.

“We need⁢ laws that prohibit viewpoint discrimination, not laws that compel it under threat of penalties (and under the guise of good-faith content moderation),” Dillon said.

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