X.com wanted to oppose a California law on transparency of moderation decided in California. Justice did not rule in his favor.
Unlike the European Union and its Digital Services Act, the United States has few tools to control social networks. The First Amendment to the American Constitution protects freedom of expression in such a way that the legislator cannot create any law to restrict this right. And it is by relying on this fundamental element of American political life that Elon Musk wanted to attack a Californian law on content moderation. Bet lost.
AB 587 wants to force platforms to be more transparent
If the American public authorities cannot constrain platforms on the types of content they authorize, they can at least ask them how they are moderated. This is what California wants to do with the help of its law AB 587, passed two years ago, and which requires platforms to produce a description of the means put in place to repress racist and extremist comments intended to disinformation, harassment and foreign political interference.
An intention which, according to the management of X, formerly Twitter, was in contravention of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. For X, it was difficult to properly define what constituted hate speech. In addition, the social network feared that the law in question would end up requiring the elimination of “ certain constitutionally protected content. »
The judge disagrees with X
These arguments did not convince Judge William Shubb, since he denied X’s motion for a preliminary injunction on this law. For the magistrate, “ Although the reporting requirement appears to impose a substantial compliance burden on social media, it does not appear that this requirement is unwarranted or unduly burdensome in the context of First Amendment law. »
Since its takeover by Elon Musk a little over a year ago, the company has experienced several upheavals, including the dismissal of numerous employees, including some assigned to post moderation. She has not yet communicated a reaction to this judgment.
Source : The Verge
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