X must reveal content moderation approach, California judge rules
This week, a California judge denied X’s attempt to get around a state law requiring social media companies to disclose their moderation policies.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Shubb ruled that X must comply with California’s AB 587. The bill, passed last year, makes social media companies operating in California disclose how they moderate extreme content featuring hate speech, harassment and international political content.
X originally argued that the law violated the First Amendment, saying AB 587 would require sites like X to remove content and didn’t coherently define the types of extreme prose it references.
Judge Shubb disagreed, saying the law merely asks companies to disclose moderation policies.
“While the reporting requirement does appear to place a substantial compliance burden on social media companies,” he wrote, “it does not appear that the requirement is unjustified or unduly burdensome within the context of First Amendment law.”
Thursday’s decision is the second California court defeat this week for X. The first came when a California judge ruled that X would have to face a court battle over allegedly not paying promised employee bonuses.
Since buying the social media company last year, Elon Musk has opened free speech, especially for conservatives banned by the previous regime.
Many users cheer, although his course faces pushback overseas, where EU investigators are probing X’s compliance with the region’s Digital Services Act.
