Elon Musk’s social platform X sued the state of New York on Tuesday over a law requiring social media sites to detail how they moderate hate speech, extremism, misinformation and other types of content on their platforms.
X argues the law, which is set to go into effect Thursday, violates the First Amendment by compelling companies to disclose “highly sensitive and controversial speech.”
“The law thus impermissibly interferes with the First Amendment-protected editorial judgments of companies such as X Corp. to remove, demonetize, or deprioritize such speech on their platforms,” the lawsuit reads.
The measure, known as the Stop Hiding Hate Act, requires social media platforms to publicly post their terms of service, as well as to submit a report to the New York attorney general about their moderation of hate speech, racism, extremism, radicalization, disinformation, misinformation, harassment and foreign political interference.
Companies are subject to fines of up to $15,000 a day for failing to comply with the law.
Musk’s social media site, which he bought as Twitter in 2022, contends the reporting requirements are a “carbon copy” of provisions of a California law that were blocked in court last year. California ultimately agreed to drop the provisions as part of a settlement with X.
New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D) and Assemblymember Grace Lee (D), who sponsored the measure, argued Tuesday that it does not infringe on social media firms’ First Amendment rights and instead requires “narrowly-tailored” disclosures to help consumers decide between platforms.
“We were proud to sponsor the Stop Hiding Hate Act, in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, because social media companies, including X, are cesspools of hate speech consisting of antisemitism, racism, Islamophobia and anti-LGBTQ bias, yet those platforms have consistently failed to inform the public about their policies regarding hatred and misinformation,” they said in a joint statement.
“We’re confident that the court will reject this attempt by X to use the First Amendment as a shield against providing New Yorkers with much needed transparency around their conduct,” the lawmakers added.
New York has passed several measures in recent years taking aim at the potential harms associated with social media platforms. Last June, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed into law a bill requiring platforms to restrict addictive feeds for kids.
State lawmakers also approved a measure Tuesday requiring warning labels for social media platforms. The bill now heads to Hochul’s desk for signing.
