Social Network X, owned by Elon Musk, brought a legal action on Tuesday against the state of New York, to challenge a law that regulates the content of the platforms, the former owner believes that he undermines freedom of expression.
In its complaint presented to the Federal Court of New York, the company X Corp, based in Texas, believes that the law, promulgated at the end of 2024 and that forces social networks companies to reveal confidential information about the way in which they moderate hate and misinformation speeches, violates the first amendment of the US Constitution.
Elon Musk accuses the state of New York to create discord
“The State inadmissively tries to awaken the public controversy over moderation of the content in a way that exerts pressure on social media companies, such as X Corp, so that they restrict, limit, limit or censor some content protected by the Constitution,” denounces X in their complaint.
This regulation “arouses a considerable debate among reasonable people on the limit that will not cross,” warns the company, which believes that “it is not a role that the government can play.”
The complaint also cites a letter dated 2024 of two local legislators behind the law, Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Grace Lee, who said that X and Elon Musk in particular have a “worrying evaluation” in terms of moderation of content “, threatening the foundations of our democracy.”
“The fact that Elon Musk gives so much problems to avoid revealing information” demonstrates the need for this law, reacted to the two parliamentarians in a joint statement.
A first victory for X in California
X had already challenged an almost identical Californian law of 2023 and obtained that his application was partially blocked by a federal court of appeal last September by the defense of freedom of expression.
California agreed, in an agreement concluded in February with X, not apply the dissemination requirements provided by law.
Since Twitter bought at the end of 2022, Elon Musk decided to eliminate the moderation policy of the site content, renamed X.
The richest man in the world, and until recently close to President Donald Trump before a spectacular blur between the two men, he stands as a defender of freedom of expression, but his criticisms accuse him of promoting the expression of his own political convictions, marked to the right.
Source: BFM TV
