Elon Musk owned social media platform X on Wednesday won an appeal to partially block a California law that mandates social media companies to publish their policies for combating disinformation, harassment, hate speech, and extremism. A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned a lower court's judgement that declined to pause the enforcement of the new Californian law.
The law, in simpler words, makes it necessary for social media companies to issue public reports that would describe their content moderation practices. The report would also shed light on the number of objectionable posts and how they were dealt with.
What Did The Court Say
In X’s lawsuit, US District Judge William Shubb in Sacramento declined to block the California law in December, concluding that it was not “unjustified or unduly burdensome within the context of First Amendment law.”
However, the appeals court took a different stance, arguing that the law's stipulations were “more extensive than necessary” to achieve the state’s objective of compelling social media companies to disclose their moderation policies and practices.
The panel instructed the lower court to examine if the content moderation section of the law can be separated from the other provisions.
What Led To This?
Last year, Musk filed a lawsuit to prevent the law from being enacted, arguing that it infringed on free speech rights protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
X’s case is one of multiple legal battles questioning the limits of states' power to regulate social media platforms.
In May, the US Supreme Court instructed lower courts to reconsider whether the content moderation laws in Texas and Florida posed First Amendment issues.