Elon Musk during a technology conference last June in Paris.GONZALO FUENTES (Portal)
Elon Musk’s new push for progressive politics. X, the company formerly known as Twitter, has waged a battle against the state of California over a law that requires social networks to publish their internal moderation policies to reduce hate speech, misinformation and harassment and to stop the sexual abuse of minors. The tech company has gone to court arguing that the rule, enacted in September 2022, violates First Amendment protections of the right to free speech — or silence — about what the state deems “harmful” or offensive.”
X filed the lawsuit this Friday in a court in Sacramento, the capital of California. The document argues that the real goal of the rule, known as AB 587, is to “remove” First Amendment content that could be considered problematic. “The issues on which the law requires you to speak out against your will are highly controversial and politically explosive,” the lawsuit continues. The boundaries of these issues have been set by partisan beliefs, the tech company adds. “Social media is often criticized by individuals on both sides, no matter what they do.” [demócratas y republicanos]due to editorial decisions that could cause you to fall into these ill-defined categories,” they point out.
The law was created in California in response to the storming of the Capitol in January 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump. The standard requires companies to submit detailed reports to prosecutors from January next year disclosing the measures they are taking to moderate online debate. To do this, it must be communicated whether surveillance is carried out using artificial intelligence or how crimes or threats are dealt with. Companies that fail to provide these reports may be fined.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, one of the stars of the Democratic Party, celebrated the passage of this rule. “We will not stand idly by as social networks are used as weapons to spread hate and misinformation that threaten our communities,” the president said on the day the law was signed.
This can be seen as Musk’s new crusade against California, a bastion of progressive politics. The tycoon has been engaged in a tense dispute with the company for years over what he sees as excessive regulation of the company. This led him to move Tesla’s headquarters from Palo Alto to Texas in 2021. Since then, the businessman has used public forums to speak out against the region’s high taxes or to take a stand against what he calls “Virus Woke.” that drives many of the public policies in California.
Analysts and pundits have warned of the turn X has taken since Musk acquired it for $44 billion last year. After the purchase, the tycoon assured that he would make Twitter a public square where all opinions could be found. Since then, several organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, have warned of the return of far-right users, a rise in hate speech and a rise in online harassment.
Musk this month blamed the Anti-Defamation League for the decline in advertising on the social network. Ad sales on X have fallen 60% since October in the US, its main market. The assumption of leadership of the company by Linda Yaccarino, a former director of NBCUniversal who personally hand-picked Musk as CEO to bring back advertisers has done little. The magnate assures that the non-governmental organization accuses them of being anti-Semitic and has threatened legal action.
It wouldn’t be the first time this has happened since Twitter was in the hands of one of the richest men in the world. In June, X sued a center that monitors online hate speech. That organization, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, had pointed out that X was “saturated” with harmful content. This group ensures that the social network takes no action against the 99% of accounts posting hate messages that have the blue subscribe badge. This week, X began another court battle in his defense.
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