X Corp., Elon Musk’s company that publishes Twitter (renamed .
In 2022, California passed a text called AB 587, which specifically requires social networks to publish twice a year a report on their moderation policies, including their rules, but also detailed data on how those rules are being applied. A system that is close to the voluntary “code of conduct” that exists in Europe.
In the complaint filed last week, X Corp. claims. believes that this law “puts pressure on platforms to encourage them to eliminate certain constitutionally protected opinions that the state deems problematic”. In the United States, the First Amendment protects a comprehensive version of freedom of expression, and state attacks on this right are more limited than in Europe.
The future of the complaint remains uncertain. In August, a federal court denied an initial appeal against the California text after a coalition of conservative groups, including the National Religious Broadcasters Association, filed a complaint. The court found that the plaintiffs had provided no evidence that the text posed a threat to freedom of expression.
Complaints against critical NGOs
Attorneys for X Corp. However, it will have all-new case law to draw from: On Friday, a federal appeals court in New Orleans largely upheld a first-instance ruling, finding that the Biden administration exceeded its powers by providing social “advice” to major networks. to moderate content related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The recommendations, made specifically by the FBI to the platforms, “were not threatening in tone or in substance,” but “were made in a context where the FBI had clear authority over those platforms,” the court writes in his judgment decision.
Elon Musk, who presents himself as an outspoken advocate of freedom of expression – but not afraid to limit the visibility of the media or of people whose messages he disapproves of – has in recent months launched increased court cases against organizations criticizing Twitter moderation.
After the Center for Countering Digital Hate was attacked in August after publishing a highly critical report on Twitter moderation, the social network filed a complaint against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), America’s main anti-defamation organization, in early September -Semitism Mr Musk blames without evidence for being responsible for advertiser brain drain on Twitter.
Mr. Musk’s complaint and public criticism of the ADL led to a spike in anti-Semitic messages on the social network. On September 4th, Mr. Musk posted a new message to ensure that we are “for freedom of expression, but against anti-Semitism in all its forms”. A few days later, he nevertheless greeted with “exactly”. a news item accusing “ADL-backed media” of attacking Elon Musk – a thinly veiled nod to the anti-Semitic theory of Jewish control of mainstream media.
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