Image: Duncan.Hull
Summarised by Centrist
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted Elon Musk’s X a preliminary injunction, reversing a prior decision that upheld California’s content moderation law, AB 587, requiring transparency in managing hate speech and sensitive content.
The California Attorney General’s office is reviewing the ruling and plans to respond appropriately.
X challenged AB 587, arguing that it unconstitutionally pressures social media companies to censor content deemed objectionable by the government, thus violating the First Amendment.
A district court initially rejected this claim, saying the law’s reporting requirements were factual and “uncontroversial.”
However, the Ninth Circuit disagreed, noting that the law’s provisions likely compel noncommercial speech and don’t serve the state’s goal in a narrowly tailored manner.
As a result, the court ordered the lower court to issue an injunction and review whether other parts of AB 587 could also be blocked.