New York Asks Judges To Reject Elon Musk's Law On Hate Anti-Employment Law

JAKARTA - The New York State Government has asked the court to reject a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk's company X (formerly Twitter), regarding a new law requiring social media platforms to reveal how they monitor hate speech, extremism, harassment, foreign political interference, and disinformation.

New York Attorney General, Letitia James, said that the law called Stop Hidden Hate Act aims to help consumers understand how social media works and provide transparency, without restricting the freedom of platforms to speak or determine content moderation policies.

According to James, the obligation to disclose content moderation policies and its implementation strengthens the interests of the state in empowering consumers in order to make wiser decisions about the use of social media.

X, who is now led by Elon Musk after a $44 billion acquisition in 2022, was represented by a well-known lawyer on the issue of the First Amendment, Floyd Abrams. However, legal team X has not yet responded to requests for comment on documents filed in Manhattan federal court.

Musk sued on the grounds that the New York law unconstitutionally opened up the risk of lawsuits and major fines against his company if it did not reveal a 'sensitive and controversial content' deemed problematic by the state.

X also cited a federal appeals court decision in California in September 2024, which blocked some similar laws for reasons of freedom of expression. However, Attorney General James considered the ruling to be wrong because he considered the content moderation policy not a form of commercial speech, even though the New York region's appeal court had rejected that view.

The law, which was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in December 2024, applies to platforms with an annual income of at least 100 million US dollars. Any violation can be subject to a civil fine of up to 15,000 US dollars per day.

This rule was compiled with the help of the Anti-Corruption League and is New York's latest effort to suppress the spread of online hatred.

Since removing most of Twitter's post-acquisition moderation policies, Elon Musk has often claimed to be an "absolute to freedom of expression."