Letitia James, the attorney general of New York State, is suing Elon Musk’s X Corp., challenging a US state law that requires social media companies to disclose how they monitor extremist content and hate speech.
The complaint contends that the First Amendment of the United States forces companies to disclose “highly sensitive and controversial speech,” which the state disapproves.
The law, which was passed in December 2024, mandates that social media companies submit reports to the attorney general detailing their service terms to users.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul stated at the time, “We are taking bold steps to hold businesses accountable, strengthen protections, and give consumers the transparency and security they deserve.”
The Stop Hiding Hate Act, or HHS, is a legal action request from X Corp.
According to X, choosing what content on social media platforms “engenders considerable debate among reasonable people about drawing the correct proverbial line,” adding that “this is not a role that the government may play.”
A letter from two lawmakers who supported the bill, which claimed X and Musk in particular had a “disturbing record” on content moderation that “periodizes the foundations of our democracy,” was also quoted in the complaint.
Social media companies are required to report their progress and share steps they take to remove hate from their platforms under New York’s law. Per violation per day, civil fines could exceed $15,000.
With the aid of the Anti-Defamation League, state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assembly Member Grace Lee, both Democrats, wrote the legislation.
lawsuits in a row
According to X, New York’s law was based on a nearly identical California law from 2023, which a federal appeals court partially blocked last September due to concerns about free speech.
In a February agreement with X, California and X mutually agreed not to follow the law’s disclosure standards.
The business filed a number of lawsuits against US states over free speech concerns. In April, X filed a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota for using deepfakes to defame political candidates or sway elections.
Musk has long criticized for censoring political voices, but he has also been accused of being a totalist in free speech. Prior to the 2024 presidential election, according to Al Jazeera, Musk, a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, regularly suppressed Democratic voices and suspended several X-channel accounts that had critical views of Trump or Musk.
Under Musk’s leadership, the platform has also been accused of encouraging hate speech. The Center for Countering Digital Hate discovered in 2023 that X failed to respond to users who had subscribed to Twitter Blue, the company’s premium service, with 99 percent of hate-filled postings.
Source: Aljazeera
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