Elon Musk’s X sues California over new social media transparency law

• AB 587: Requires social media transparency on moderation.
• Twitter sued CA, citing freedom of speech.
• Author Jesse Gabriel sees it as transparency, not content control.

Elon Musk’s company X, formerly known as Twitter, has initiated a legal action, claiming that a recent California law is unconstitutional and infringes on the company’s freedom of speech.

This law, known as AB 587, mandates that social media platforms disclose their moderation practices related to various issues like hate speech, racism, extremism, disinformation, harassment, and foreign political interference.

In the lawsuit, X argues that AB 587 forces social media companies to publicly endorse specific stances on contentious and politically charged topics set by the state. According to the company, this compels them to adopt the state’s politically charged language, which is essentially a form of coerced speech. X contends that AB 587 compels them to address sensitive and controversial subjects they may prefer not to discuss, all in an attempt to pressure them into restricting constitutionally protected content that the state deems objectionable.

In response to the lawsuit, Jesse Gabriel, the California Assembly member who authored AB 587, argues that the law is solely a transparency measure, requiring companies to be transparent about their content moderation practices without dictating specific content moderation policies.

AB 587 became law a year ago.