Musk's X sues New York over requirement to show how social media
platforms handle problematic posts
[June 18, 2025] By
JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk ’s X sued Tuesday to try to stop New York from
requiring reports on how social media platforms handle problematic posts
— a regulatory approach that the company successfully challenged in
California.
New York's law, which Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed late last
year, is poised to take effect later this year. X maintains that the
measure impinges on free speech rights and on a 1996 federal law that,
among other things, lets internet platforms moderate posts as they see
fit.
New York is improperly trying “to inject itself into the
content-moderation editorial process” by requiring “politically charged
disclosures” about it, Bastrop, Texas-based X Corp. argues in the suit.
“The state is impermissibly trying to generate public controversy about
content moderation in a way that will pressure social media companies,
such as X Corp., to restrict, limit, disfavor or censor certain
constitutionally protected content on X that the state dislikes,” says
the suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan.
New York Attorney General Letitia James' office didn't immediately
respond to a request for comment on the case.
The law requires social media companies to report twice a year on
whether and how they define hate speech, racist or extremist content,
disinformation and some other terms. The platforms also have to detail
their content moderation practices and data on the number of posts they
flagged, the actions they took, the extent to which the offending
material was seen or shared, and more.
Sponsors Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assembly Member Grace Lee, both
Democrats, have said the measure will make social media more transparent
and companies more accountable.
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 The law applies broadly to social
media companies. But X is among those that have faced intense
scrutiny in recent years, and in a 2024 letter to an X lobbyist, the
sponsors said the company and Musk in particular have a “disturbing
record” that “threatens the foundations of our democracy.”
The lawmakers wrote before Musk became, for a time,
a close adviser and chainsaw-wielding cost-cutter in Republican
President Donald Trump's administration. The two billionaires have
since feuded and, perhaps, made up.
Since taking over the former Twitter in 2022, Musk, in the name of
free speech, has dismantled the company’s Trust and Safety advisory
group and stopped enforcing content moderation and hate speech rules
that the site followed. He has restored the accounts of conspiracy
theorists and incentivized engagement on the platform with payouts
and content partnerships.
Outside groups have since documented a rise in hate speech and
harassment on the platform. X sued a research organization that
studies online hate speech – that lawsuit was dismissed last March.
The New York legislation took a page from a similar law that passed
in California — and drew a similar lawsuit from X.
Last fall, a panel of federal appellate judges blocked portions of
the California law, at least temporarily, on free speech grounds.
The state subsequently settled, agreeing not to enforce the
content-moderation reporting requirements.
___
AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay contributed from San Francisco.
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