Add New York to the list of states trying to regulate how social media platforms deal with “hateful conduct.” And, as the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reports, there’s a First Amendment problem with the legislation recently signed into law.
As writers Sara Grace Kennedy and Gillian Vernick note, “the bill’s constraint on content that ‘vilif[ies]’ or ‘humiliate[s]’ people would clearly apply to some protected speech, as those terms are so broad and vague they could be read or misread to encompass plenty of public discourse.”
In short, RCFP says, “much of what the bill defines as ‘hateful conduct’ is protected by the First Amendment.”
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