Elon Musk's X secures appeal to halt part of California content moderation law

Musk’s legal win: Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, achieved a legal victory on Wednesday, appealing to partially block a California law that mandates social media companies to publicly disclose their policies on handling disinformation, harassment, hate speech, and extremism.

A three-judge panel from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned a prior decision by a lower court, which had previously refused to pause the enforcement of this new California regulation.

The contested law requires major social media platforms to publish detailed reports outlining their content moderation practices, including data on the volume of objectionable posts and their management.

Musk had filed a lawsuit last year to prevent the law from being implemented, arguing that it infringes upon the First Amendment protections guaranteed by the US Constitution.

Social media regulation clash

X's lawsuit is part of a broader wave of legal battles challenging the extent of state authority over social media regulation. In May, the US Supreme Court instructed lower courts to re-evaluate whether similar social media content moderation laws in Texas and Florida raise First Amendment issues.

In the lawsuit, US District Judge William Shubb in Sacramento had previously declined to block the California law in December, concluding that it was not "unjustified or unduly burdensome" concerning First Amendment rights.

The appeals court, however, disagreed, finding that the law's requirements were "more extensive than necessary" for achieving the state's objective of transparency regarding social media moderation practices.

The court has now directed the lower court to examine whether the content moderation provisions of the law can be separated from the other sections.

(With Reuters Inputs)