X won an appeal to block parts of California’s content moderation law, which requires social platforms to publicly post policies against hate speech and misinformation and submit semiannual reports on their enforcement efforts. As reported earlier, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the reporting aspect of the law may violate the First Amendment Bloomberg method.
In a lawsuit filed against California last year, X claimed that the state’s social media law violated free speech because it “forces companies like X Corp. to speak against their will.” A California judge later denied X’s request for a preliminary injunction, finding that the enforcement reporting requirements seemed “unreasonable or unduly onerous within the scope of First Amendment law.”
The Court of Appeal has now overturned that decision. The law’s requirements “go beyond what is necessary to achieve the state’s stated goal of requiring social media companies to be transparent about their content moderation policies,” the decision said.
in a statement Bloomberg methodCalifornia Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said it was “reviewing the opinion and will respond appropriately in court.” Meanwhile, X called the decision a “victory” for the platform and “free speech across the country.”
