Social media platform X filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, on June 17th, alleging that New York’s “Stop Hiding Hate” Act violates the platform’s free speech rights.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the “Stop Hiding Hate” Act in December 2024. The law requires social media platforms to submit reports twice yearly to the New York State Attorney General detailing whether and how the platforms define hate speech, extremist or racist content, disinformation, harassment, and foreign political interference. Under the law, social media platforms must also disclose their content moderation practices and provide metrics and data as to the number of content, groups, and users flagged for violation, number of actions taken, and types of enforcement actions. The law takes effect later this year.
X filed its lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality and legal validity of the law. The complaint alleges that the law violates the First Amendment since the reporting provisions “compel disclosure of highly sensitive and controversial speech that is. . . fully protected by the First Amendment.” X also claims that the law “impermissibily interferes with the First Amendment-protected editorial judgments of companies. . . to remove, demonetize, or deprioritize such speech on their platforms.” The complaint continues on to argue that the law’s “attempt to tilt the marketplace of ideas” by harnessing public pressure to achieve its goals is impermissible since the government “cannot do indirectly what [it] is barred from doing directly,” citing National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo.
X points to California Assembly Bill No. 587 as persuasive evidence that New York’s law should be struck down. X challenged AB 587, a California law targeting social media platforms with similar reporting provisions, and succeeded in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2024. The Ninth Circuit ruled that AB 587’s reporting provisions likely compel non-commercial speech and the provisions do not survive strict scrutiny. California Attorney General Robert Bonta eventually agreed to a settlement that included a permanent injunction preventing enforcement of AB 587’s reporting provisions. In March 2025, a federal trial court ruled that California’s law violates the First Amendment, both facially and as-applied to X.
In its lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James, X argues that the “Stop Hiding Hate” Act’s reporting provisions “are a carbon copy of the provisions of AB 587.” The complaint states that the New York legislature failed to revisit its law in light of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling and refused to discuss potential changes to the law proferred by X. In addition to the First Amendment challenge, X also argues that it has immunity as an interactive computer service provider under 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(2)(A). X claims that the “Stop Hiding Hate” Act infringes upon said immunity “by imposing monetary fines and suits for injunctive relief. . . if it ‘restrict[s] access’ to content on its platform in a way that. . . ‘misrepresents’ information in a [report].”
X’s lawsuit seeks relief in the form of declaratory relief and injunctive relief.
Additional Reading
Musk’s X sues New York over requirement to show how social media platforms handle problematic posts, The Associated Press (June 17, 2025)
Governor Hochul Signs Online Safety Legislation to Strengthen Protections for the Personal Data of Consumers, New York State (December 24, 2024)
X Corp. v. James (Case No. 1:2025cv05068)
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