Musk’s X loses appeal to block California content moderation law

San Francisco, Dec 29 : Elon Musk-run X (formerly Twitter) has lost a bid to block a California law requiring social media companies to disclose how they handle content moderation on their platforms.

In September, X sued California to undo the states content moderation law, saying it violated free speech rights under the US Constitution’s First Amendment and California’s state constitution, reports Deadline.

On Thursday, US District Judge William Shubb dismissed the companys request in an eight-page decision.

The law mandates that large social media companies issue semiannual reports describing their content moderation practices, including data on objectionable posts and how they were addressed, the report mentioned.

“While the reporting requirement does appear to place a substantial compliance burden on social media companies, it does not appear that the requirement is unjustified or unduly burdensome within the context of First Amendment law,” Shubb wrote.

Meanwhile, a US federal judge has ruled that X violated a contract when it failed to pay tens of millions of dollars in bonuses to its employees promised after Elon Musk acquired the platform for $44 billion.

Mark Schobinger, the former senior director of compensation for Twitter, had filed suit against Twitter on behalf of himself and other current and former Twitter employees in June, reports Courthouse News Service.

In the verdict, US District Judge Vincent Chhabria said that Schobinger stated a breach of contract claim under California law and that Schobinger was covered by the bonus plan and followed all of Twitter’s directions.

shs/prw