Latest news with #StopHidingHateAct
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's X sues New York over hate speech and disinformation law
Elon Musk's X Corp filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the state of New York, arguing a recently passed law compelling large social media companies to divulge how they address hate speech is unconstitutional. The complaint alleges that bill S895B, known as the Stop Hiding Hate Act, violates free speech rights under the first amendment. The act, which the governor, Kathy Hochul, signed into law last December, requires companies to publish their terms of service and submit reports detailing the steps they take to moderate extremism, foreign influence, disinformation, hate speech and other forms of harmful content. Musk's lawyers argue that the law, which goes into effect this week, would require X to submit 'highly sensitive information' and compel non-commercial speech, which is subject to greater first amendment protections. The complaint also opposes the possible penalty of $15,000 per violation per day for failing to comply with the law. The bill's authors issued a statement on Tuesday rejecting Musk's suit as an attempt to 'use the First Amendment as a shield against providing New Yorkers with much needed transparency' and argued that the act does not infringe upon the free speech rights of social media companies. X successfully sued last year to block a similar law in California, which also required social media companies to disclose to the government how they define hate speech and extremism. Since Musk bought Twitter in 2022, he has heavily downgraded content moderation efforts and fought against attempts at regulating the platform. The Stop Hiding Hate Act was written by Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a New York state senator and Grace Lee, a state assemblymember, in cooperation with the Anti-Defamation League, with the intent of providing great transparency and accountability over harmful online speech. Lee and Hoylman-Sigal rejected a request last year from X to discuss and amend the bill, according to the state senator, on the grounds that they believed the company was not acting in good faith and only seeking to weaken the bill's requirements. 'Now more than ever, with the rise in political violence and threats emanating from the spread of hate speech and disinformation by President Trump and Elon Musk, New Yorkers deserve to know what social media companies like X are doing (or not doing) to stop the spread of hatred and misinformation on their platform,' Hoylman-Sigal and Lee said Tuesday. Although Musk has described himself as a 'free speech absolutist', his platform X has targeted journalists and media outlets that post critical information about him. The platform suspended the accounts of several journalists in recent years that have reported on Musk and throttled links to news sites he has criticized. Musk also sued a non-profit that catalogued racist and extremist content on X, in a case that a US district judge threw out as an attempt to punish freedom of speech.
BBC News
3 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Musk's X sues New York over social media hate speech law
Elon Musk's X has challenged a New York state law that requires social media companies to disclose how they monitor hate speech, extremism, and other contentious a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, argues that the law forces companies to disclose "highly sensitive and controversial speech" that is protected under the constitution's First York Attorney General Letitia James, who is in charge of enforcing this law, is the named defendant in X's media sites have become the main source of news for Americans, with majority consuming it on networks like X, according to a new research from the Reuters Institute. Deciding what content is acceptable on social media platforms "engenders considerable debate among reasonable people about where to draw the correct proverbial line," X said. "This is not a role that the government may play."The Stop Hiding Hate Act, passed in December, requires social media companies to disclose steps they take to eliminate hate on their platforms, and to report their progress. In a statement on Tuesday, the two New York state lawmakers who sponsored the Stop Hiding Hate Act called social media companies like X "cesspools of hate speech" and said the law did not violate the First media platforms, including X, "have consistently failed to inform the public about their policies regarding hatred and misinformation", Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Grace Lee New York Attorney General Letitia James nor X replied to the BBC's request for comment on Tuesday.X's lawsuit against New York state comes nine months after the company successfully blocked a California law that required large social media companies to submit reports about their content-moderation policies. The company extensively cited its earlier victory in its Tuesday's lawsuit and criticised New York lawmakers for failing to revisit the legislation's language even after the California law was largely struck who acquired X in 2022, has dramatically scaled back the rules that govern what content and behaviours are acceptable on the platform, according to Professor Laura Edelson, who teaches computer science at Northeastern has "also significantly reduced the resources the platform puts into enforcing even the rules it does still have," she said. "This is why, even though rules around spam haven't changed on X, there is so much more floating around than there used to be."Last year, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Musk against a research group that documented an uptick in hate speech on the site. Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.
Engadget
4 hours ago
- Business
- Engadget
X sues New York over hate speech disclosure law
Social media company X has filed a lawsuit against the state of New York over a law governing hate speech. The social network's Global Government Affairs account posted about the suit, claiming the law's required disclosures infringe on First Amendment protections for free speech. The Stop Hiding Hate Act, which is slated to take effect this week, would require social media companies to report on how they define and moderate content including hate speech, misinformation, disinformation, harassment and foreign political influence. X sued California in 2023 about a similar state-level law regarding content moderation. A panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals put a hold on the lower court's initial ruling in favor of California. While the law did endure, a settlement between the state and the company at the start of 2025 led to the elimination of the provisions that X claimed were unconstitutional.
India Today
5 hours ago
- Business
- India Today
Elon Musk's X takes New York to court, calls hate speech law unconstitutional
Elon Musk's X Corp sued New York on Tuesday, challenging the constitutionality of a state law requiring social media companies to disclose how they monitor hate speech, extremism, disinformation, harassment and foreign political interference.X said the law known as the Stop Hiding Hate Act violated the First Amendment and state constitution by subjecting it to lawsuits and heavy fines unless it disclosed "highly sensitive and controversial speech" that New York may find what content is acceptable on social media platforms "engenders considerable debate among reasonable people about where to draw the correct proverbial line," X said. "This is not a role that the government may play." The complaint filed in Manhattan federal court also quoted a letter from two legislators who sponsored the law, which said X and Musk in particular had a "disturbing record" on content moderation "that threatens the foundations of our democracy."New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who enforces the state's laws, is the named defendant in X's lawsuit. Her office did not immediately respond to requests for the world's richest person and recently a close adviser to Republican President Donald Trump, has described himself as a free speech did away with the content moderation policy of Twitter, as X was previously known, after he bought the company for USD 44 billion in October York's law requires social media companies to disclose steps they take to eliminate hate on their platforms, and to report their progress. Civil fines could reach USD 15,000 per violation per law was written by state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Grace Lee, both Democrats, with help from the Anti-Defamation League. It was signed in December by Governor Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat.X said New York based its law on a nearly identical 2023 California law whose enforcement was partially blocked by a federal appeals court last September because of free speech agreed in a February settlement with X not to enforce the law's disclosure requirements.A spokesman for Hoylman-Sigal had no immediate comment. Lee's office did not immediately respond to requests for InMust Watch
India Today
5 hours ago
- Business
- India Today
Elon Musk's X sues New York to block social media hate speech law
NEW YORK: Elon Musk's X Corp sued New York on Tuesday, challenging the constitutionality of a state law requiring social media companies to disclose how they monitor hate speech, extremism, disinformation, harassment and foreign political interference.X said the law known as the Stop Hiding Hate Act violated the First Amendment and state constitution by subjecting it to lawsuits and heavy fines unless it disclosed "highly sensitive and controversial speech" that New York may find what content is acceptable on social media platforms "engenders considerable debate among reasonable people about where to draw the correct proverbial line," X said. "This is not a role that the government may play." The complaint filed in Manhattan federal court also quoted a letter from two legislators who sponsored the law, which said X and Musk in particular had a "disturbing record" on content moderation "that threatens the foundations of our democracy."New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who enforces the state's laws, is the named defendant in X's lawsuit. Her office did not immediately respond to requests for the world's richest person and recently a close adviser to Republican President Donald Trump, has described himself as a free speech did away with the content moderation policy of Twitter, as X was previously known, after he bought the company for $44 billion in October York's law requires social media companies to disclose steps they take to eliminate hate on their platforms, and to report their progress. Civil fines could reach $15,000 per violation per law was written by state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Grace Lee, both Democrats, with help from the Anti-Defamation League. It was signed in December by Governor Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat.X said New York based its law on a nearly identical 2023 California law whose enforcement was partially blocked by a federal appeals court last September because of free speech agreed in a February settlement with X not to enforce the law's disclosure a joint statement, Hoylman-Sigal and Lee said they were confident a judge would uphold New York's content moderation law."The fact that Elon Musk would go to these lengths to avoid disclosing straightforward information to New Yorkers" shows why the law is necessary, the legislators case is X Corp v James, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 25-05068.
