NY Court Upholds Social Media Content Disclosure Law, Creates Circuit Split

Judge John P. Cronan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected X Corp.'s claims that a New York state law requiring content moderation policy disclosure violated the First Amendment. The court held the reporting requirements were "purely factual and uncontroversial," setting up a potential circuit split with the Ninth Circuit, which reached the opposite conclusion on a similar California statute. The New York legislature enacted the law in 2024, requiring social media companies to file semi-annual reports with the New York Attorney General.

The ruling validates the enforcement of the New York state law, which mandates that social media companies disclose their terms of service and content moderation policies. This decision increases the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will address whether such disclosure laws apply to content moderation nationally.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is enforcing state law requiring social media companies to disclose moderation policies, a law that Eugene Volokh has sued Letitia James over.