{"id":2026485,"date":"2023-09-08T22:54:04","date_gmt":"2023-09-09T02:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/musks-x-sues-california-over-content-moderation-law\/"},"modified":"2023-09-08T22:56:21","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T02:56:21","slug":"musks-x-sues-california-over-content-moderation-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/musks-x-sues-california-over-content-moderation-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Musk&#8217;s X takes legal action against California&#8217;s moderation law."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmusks-x-sues-california-over-content-moderation-law%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2026485&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Elon Musk&#8217;s Social Media Giant X Challenges California Law, Asserting Free Speech Rights<\/h2>\n<p>Elon \u2063Musk&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/facebook-bans-gop-account-allows-inflammatory-dnc-ads\/\" title=\"Facebook bans GOP account, allows inflammatory DNC ads\">social media giant<\/a> \u2064X, formerly known as Twitter, is taking legal action against California, challenging\u200c the constitutionality of a state law that the company argues infringes its \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/states-push-to-rein-in-big-tech-as-federal-gears-grind-slow\/\" title=\"States Push to Rein in Big Tech as Federal Gears Grind Slow\">free speech rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The law in question,\u2063 California Assembly Bill 587 (AB 587), grants the state the power to dictate terms of service to X and other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-legislation-targets-social-media-platforms-that-allow-terrorist-accounts\/\" title=\"House Legislation Targets Social Media Platforms That Allow Terrorist Accounts\">large <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ga-poll-watcher-it-expert-non-trump-supporter-affidavit-sudden-surge-of-20000-mail-in-votes-for-biden-in-early-hours-on-nov\/\" title=\"GA Poll Watcher, IT Expert, Non-Trump Supporter Affidavit: Sudden Surge of 20,000 Mail-In-Votes For Biden In Early Hours On Nov\">social media companies<\/a><\/a>. It requires these platforms to include terms related to content moderation in\u2062 their policies. Additionally, the law mandates X\u2063 to\u200b submit semi-annual &#8220;terms of service reports&#8221; to the California attorney general.<\/p>\n<p>These reports must provide detailed descriptions of\u2062 X&#8217;s content moderation practices, including how the \u2063company defines and\u200c moderates various categories of \u2062content such as hate speech, extremism, disinformation, harassment, and foreign political interference. The reports must also include statistics\u200b on actions taken to moderate these \u200ccategories of content.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/article\/musk-threatens-defamation-lawsuit-against-adl-over-declining-x-revenue-5486187\">Musk Threatens Defamation Lawsuit Against ADL Over Declining X Revenue<\/a><br \/>\n      <br \/>\n      <span class=\"text-comp-caption\">9\/4\/2023<\/span>\n    <\/li>\n<li>\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/tech\/x-updates-privacy-policy-will-collect-biometric-data-employment-history-from-some-users-5484828\">X Updates Privacy Policy, Will Collect Biometric Data, Employment History From Some Users<\/a><br \/>\n      <br \/>\n      <span class=\"text-comp-caption\">9\/1\/2023<\/span>\n    <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In\u200b a lawsuit filed in Sacramento on Friday, X argues that AB 587, signed into law by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom a year ago, violates the company&#8217;s free speech rights \u200cunder both\u2062 the First Amendment to the \u2062United States Constitution and Article I, Section 2 of the\u200b California Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>X contends that the law infringes on its First Amendment\u2064 right to &#8220;not speak about controversial topics&#8221; and to have the autonomy to decide what it will \u2062and won&#8217;t say on such topics.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>\u201c[The law] impermissibly\u200d interferes with the constitutionally-protected editorial \u2062judgments of\u2062 companies such as X Corp., has \u2062both\u2063 the purpose and likely effect of pressuring companies such as X Corp. to remove, demonetize, or deprioritize constitutionally-protected speech that the State deems undesirable or harmful, and places\u2063 an unjustified and undue burden on social media companies such \u2063as\u200d X Corp,\u201d the lawsuit states (<a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.caed.433955\/gov.uscourts.caed.433955.1.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p>California has described \u200bAB 587 as a &#8220;transparency measure&#8221; aimed at making content moderation \u2063policies and statistics publicly available. \u200bSupporters \u2063of the law view it as a means\u2063 to combat online hate\u200b and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/musks-x-sues-california-over-content-moderation-law\/\" title=\"Musk's X takes legal action against California's moderation law.\">hold social media\u200b companies accountable<\/a> for user-generated content.<\/p>\n<p>However, X disputes California&#8217;s characterization, citing legislative history and statements from the law&#8217;s author, sponsors, \u200dand supporters \u2064as evidence that the law&#8217;s true \u200bintent, in the company&#8217;s view, is to pressure social media platforms to &#8220;eliminate&#8221; certain constitutionally-protected \u2062content.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit references a quote from a California Assembly Committee on Judiciary\u2063 Report\u2063 for the 2021\u20132022\u200c session, \u200cdated April 27, 2021, which states: \u201c[i]f social media companies are forced to disclose what they do in this regard [i.e., how they moderate online content], it may pressure them to\u2064 become better corporate citizens by\u200b doing more to eliminate hate speech and disinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>X \u200dalso argues that the law violates the Dormant Commerce Clause by placing an undue burden on interstate commerce, as its\u2063 reporting requirements extend\u200c beyond California residents and are intended to have &#8220;national implications.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit further claims that AB 587 conflicts with the immunity provided\u2062 to \u200csocial media companies under\u2062 Section 230 of the U.S. Code, which shields providers and users of interactive\u2062 computer services \u2062from liability for actions taken \u2063in good faith to restrict access to objectionable material.<\/p>\n<p>California Assemblymember Jesse \u200bGabriel (D-Encino), \u200dthe\u200b author of the law, \u200cresponded to the news of X&#8217;s lawsuit on Friday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>\u201cIf Twitter has nothing to hide,\u200b then\u2064 they should have no objection to this\u2064 bill,\u201d Mr. Gabriel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2023\/09\/08\/x-sues-california-moderation-law-00114814\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> Politico.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk&#8217;s X, once called Twitter, is contesting the constitutionality of a California law that it claims violates its free speech rights. The company is taking legal action against California over Assembly Bill 587 (AB 587), which grants the state authority to regulate X and other major social media platforms&#8217; terms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":618,"featured_media":2026486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2026485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/618"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2026485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2026486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2026485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2026485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2026485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}