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Elon Musk’s X sued Tuesday to try to stop New York from requiring reports on how social media platforms handle problematic posts — a regulatory approach that the company successfully challenged in California.
New York’s law, which Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed late last year, is poised to take effect later this year. X maintains that the measure impinges on free speech rights and on a 1996 federal law that, among other things, lets internet platforms moderate posts as they see fit.
New York is improperly trying “to inject itself into the content-moderation editorial process” by requiring “politically charged disclosures” about it, Bastrop, Texas-based X Corp. argues in the suit.
“The state is impermissibly trying to generate public controversy about content moderation in a way that will pressure social media companies, such as X Corp., to restrict, limit, disfavor or censor certain constitutionally protected content on X that the state dislikes,” says the suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office said in a statement released Wednesday that it was reviewing the complaint and will “stand ready to defend the constitutionality of our laws.”
The law requires social media companies to report twice a year on whether and how they define hate speech, racist or extremist content, disinformation and some other terms. The platforms also have to detail their content moderation practices and data on the number of posts they flagged, the actions they took, the extent to which the offending material was seen or shared, and more.
Sponsors Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assembly Member Grace Lee, both Democrats, have said the measure will make social media more transparent and companies more accountable.
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The law applies broadly to social media companies. But X is among those that have faced intense scrutiny in recent years, and in a 2024 letter to an X lobbyist, the sponsors said the company and Musk in particular have a “disturbing record” that “threatens the foundations of our democracy.”
The lawmakers wrote before Musk became, for a time, a close adviser and chainsaw-wielding cost-cutter in Republican President Donald Trump’s administration. The two billionaires have since feuded and, perhaps, made up.
Since taking over the former Twitter in 2022, Musk, in the name of free speech, has dismantled the company’s Trust and Safety advisory group and stopped enforcing content moderation and hate speech rules that the site followed. He has restored the accounts of conspiracy theorists and incentivized engagement on the platform with payouts and content partnerships.
Outside groups have since documented a rise in hate speech and harassment on the platform. X sued a research organization that studies online hate speech — that lawsuit was dismissed last March.
The New York legislation took a page from a similar law that passed in California — and drew a similar lawsuit from X.
Last fall, a panel of federal appellate judges blocked portions of the California law, at least temporarily, on free speech grounds. The state subsequently settled, agreeing not to enforce the content-moderation reporting requirements.
