Civil rights groups including the Anti-Defamation League and the Center for Countering Digital Hate have identified increases in the volume of hate speech on X targeting Jews, Blacks, gay men and trans persons since Musk took over.
The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, which enforces state laws, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit. AB 587 requires larger social media companies to issue semiannual reports that describe their content moderation practices, and provide data on the numbers of objectionable posts and how they were addressed.
The law also requires companies to provide copies of their terms of service. Failure to comply risks civil fines of up to $15,000 per violation per day., saying the state would not let social media be "weaponized" to spread hate and disinformation. Musk laid off thousands of employees after buying Twitter, and on Monday blamed critics including the ADL for a 60% decline in U.S. advertising revenue., A.J. Brown, who resigned in June as X's head of brand safety and ad quality, said a recent policy change that limited the visibility of objectionable posts on X rather than removing them made it difficult to convince advertisers the platform was safe.