• The company formerly known as Twitter argued New York State’s Stop Hiding Hate Act is unconstitutional and would lose in court just like a similar legislative proposal mounted last year by California. New York legislators Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Grace Lee, who cosponsored the law, responded by saying X’s legal argument citing free speech protections used the First Amendment as a shield against accountability.

Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, is suing the State of New York in an attempt to block new legislation that would combat extremist speech.

Under the Stop Hiding Hate Act that enters into force this week, digital content providers like the company formerly known as Twitter must disclose what efforts they are taking to police content on their respective platforms.

X argues the new law is a “carbon copy” of California’s Assembly Bill 587, which it already successfully challenged. Last year, three judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction, ruling portions of the law were unconstitutional under protected free speech rights.

“We are confident we will prevail in this case as well,” X wrote in a statement on its platform on Tuesday.

The worldwide rise in alternative media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and many others has opened a door for extremist groups to destabilize society through targeted disinformation and misinformation designed to polarize and radicalize, supporters of the bill argue. 

However, critics of such measures have countered that this is a slippery slope that could either by design or default lead to the censorship of “wrongthink,” since even good-faith attempts to guard against violence may lead to regulatory overreach. Before Musk acquired Twitter in late 2022, users could be de-platformed for misgendering trans people.

Cosponsors label digital platforms ‘cesspools of hate speech’

“Social media companies, including X, are cesspools of hate speech consisting of anti-Semitism, racism, Islamophobia, and anti-LGBTQ bias,” said the two New York State legislators who cosponsored the bill, Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Grace Lee, in response to the lawsuit by X.

“We’re confident that the court will reject this attempt by X to use the First Amendment as a shield,” they added.

Today, @X filed a First Amendment lawsuit against a New York law, NY S895B. NY S895B is a new social media regulation that is a carbon copy of a California law, CA AB 587, that X successfully challenged in court under the First Amendment last year. The Ninth Circuit Court of…

— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) June 17, 2025

Musk himself has played a role fomenting popular anger online, most notably in the U.K. last summer when he backed extremist leader Tommy Robinson’s call to arms that ended in race riots across the country. 

He later platformed the far-right nationalist AfD in Germany, falsely characterizing its policies as “identical” to those pursued by President Barack Obama. The party is under surveillance by the German equivalent of the FBI as a threat to the country’s postwar democratic order. 

As a result of his politics, Musk’s Tesla has seen a backlash in Europe, with sales cratering across the continent.

X argues New York State is simply trying to censor speech it doesn’t like

Since Musk took over Twitter in late 2022, he fired the content management team and outsourced policing to a select group of volunteers. They are free to choose at their discretion whether they fact-check statements from violent extremist groups or harangue drop-ship outlets in China.

When brands decided to follow the advice of the World Federation of Advertisers by departing the controversial platform, Musk sued the WFA. Its affiliated nonprofit, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, shut its doors last August rather than pay the legal fees to defend itself in court. 

This approach has led to an ongoing legal fight with the European Union, after the latter said X violated content moderation guidelines under its Digital Services Act.

On Tuesday, Musk’s X said that New York’s Stop Hiding Hate Act was just another attempt by the government to “eliminate” certain speech it didn’t like. Cosponsors Hoylman-Sigal and Lee disagreed.

“The fact that Elon Musk would go to these lengths to avoid disclosing straightforward information to New Yorkers as required by our statute illustrates exactly why we need the Stop Hiding Hate Act,” they wrote.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Central banks from the Global South are actively shifting their own reserves toward gold at a much faster rate than advanced economies to reduce their exposure to the U.S. dollar amid growing trade protectionism, according to a survey by the World Gold Council. “The recent market developments around tariffs have raised questions on the safe-haven status of USD/UST, but have bolstered that of gold,” one response read.

Roughly every second central bank in the Global South plans to expand its own gold reserves over the coming 12 months, new data shows, and the currency most likely to pay the price for the shift is the U.S. dollar.

Results from the Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey 2025 published on Tuesday by the World Gold Council (WGC) found geopolitical instability and potential trade conflicts as chief reasons why emerging economies are shifting toward gold at a much faster rate than advanced economies. 

Asked more broadly about their expectations regarding how their international peers will behave in the coming 12 months, there was near unanimity regardless of the country of origin. Of the 15 central banks from advanced economies and 58 central banks from emerging markets and dynamic economies, or EMDE, polled, 95% expected overall gold reserves to increase in the next 12 months.

This helps explain why the precious metal—despite its lack of a yield versus other assets as well its physical storage costs—touched $3,446 an ounce, close to its April record, while the U.S. dollar index is near three-year lows.

“The uncertainty stemming from the tariffs implemented and committed by the USA regarding trade policies in the recent period may reduce the interest in USD and USD-denominated assets as a reserve currency,” one anonymous central bank is quoted as saying in the report.

Of all institutions polled, 48% of those in the Global South expected their own gold reserves to grow in the immediate future versus just 21% in advanced economies. Respondents argued the de-dollarization trend that favors a shift to gold would continue owing to increased tariffs and trade protectionism, but any decline would likely be gradual as a result of the U.S.’s deep financial markets, comparatively strong legal institutions, and the lack of any obvious substitute.

Tariffs raise concerns over safe-haven status of U.S. dollar and Treasury bonds

In 2024, central banks bought 1,045 metric tons of gold, accounting for about a fifth of global demand. This marked the third straight year during which they accumulated over 1,000 tons, according to figures from the WGC, up sharply from the 400- to 500-ton average over the preceding decade. 

According to the survey, 72% of all respondents believe gold reserves held by the world’s central banks will increase moderately over the next five years versus 66% the previous year. Another 4% of respondents, coming entirely from non-advanced economies, predict the gain will be significant, up one percentage point from before. 

“Central banks are expected to continue purchasing gold as they look for ways to reduce dependence on USD,” one central bank replied in the survey. “The recent market developments around tariffs have raised questions on the safe-haven status of USD/UST, but have bolstered that of gold.”

By comparison, 45% expect a moderate drop in U.S. dollar holdings over the same time period. While this represents an improvement over the 49% a year earlier, the number replying dollars would see a significant decline soared—to 28% from 13% previously.

Dollar’s 43% share of global central bank reserve assets expected to drop

The sharpest divergence in responses between advanced economies and the Global South related to the trend in de-dollarization and how great a role geopolitical tensions play in fueling it. 

When asked how much of total global reserves would still be denominated in dollars five years from now, more central banks from non-advanced economies anticipated a slight decrease from the current 43% share than their peers in advanced economies.

For comparison, gold accounted for only 19% of total reserves, with 15% allocated in euros and 2% in Chinese renminbi.

Among those that expected no change in the share of dollar-denominated reserves, the relationship was flipped: Far more advanced economies believed this to be the case than those elsewhere.

“This resonates with the recent trend in reported central bank holdings, where we see a stronger appetite for gold accumulation from [emerging markets’ and dynamic economies’] central banks,” the World Gold Council concluded.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Sales of Tesla vehicles in the U.S. fell 16% in April, according to data from S&P Global Mobility cited by trade publication Automotive News. With a share of 40%, even the slightest weakness at Elon Musk’s company has a disproportionate effect in monthly EV sales. Musk meanwhile has dismissed concerns he has a demand problem on his hands.

When Tesla sneezes, the entire U.S. electric vehicle market catches a cold. 

Elon Musk’s company led overall sales of zero-emission cars lower in April, marking the first year-on-year drop in EV sales for 14 months, according to Automotive News. 

The Detroit-based trade publication cited data published by S&P Global Mobility that showed Americans bought roughly 97,800 EVs, or 4.4% fewer than last year. 

The chief culprit behind the decline was Tesla, whose volumes sank 16% to just below 40,000 for April. By comparison Chevrolet saw its business triple from comparatively low levels on the back of the new Equinox crossover, which blew past all Tesla models in terms of actual real world range.

Neither Tesla nor S&P Global Mobility responded to a request from Fortune made outside normal business hours. 

Tesla’s 40% share means it dictates the direction of America’s EV market

Musk made EVs desirable in the U.S., first in 2012 with the Model S sedan that revolutionized the industry, and then eight years later landing a smash hit with the more affordable Model Y crossover.

Despite his success, the rest of the U.S. industry either could not—in the case of EV upstarts like Rivian—or would not follow. Even in its currently weakened state, Tesla still accounts for roughly four out of every 10 EVs sold in the United States, versus market shares of below 10% for its two closest rivals—Chevrolet and Ford. 

With such a dominant position, even the slightest declines have a disproportionately large effect on the overall market.

Normally sales figures for April published in June would be considered stale at this point, but there is a dearth of timely data when it comes to the size of the U.S. electric vehicle industry. The market is a laggard compared to most other wealthy and industrialized countries, where EV demand is helped by high fuel taxes.

Musk has dismissed concerns that Tesla has a demand problem

Tesla’s poor results in the U.S. in April confirm a trend that had already emerged in Europe and China, suggesting the company will find it increasingly difficult to meet its full-year forecast for an unspecified return to growing car sales. 

Sales are already down 13% in the first quarter, and June needs to be a very strong month to at least eke out stagnant volumes for the current quarter. More troubling for Tesla, there has been no indication of a new model on the horizon, beyond a seven-seat Model Y, despite Musk’s promise since April 2024 that one would launch before the end of June. 

Meanwhile the CEO has aggravated some investors by consistently dismissing concerns that Tesla’s core car business is in a protracted slump, one for which he is ultimately responsible. Not only did he kill off his planned $25,000 low cost car in favor of one without any manual controls whatsoever, his political activism has also provoked a customer boycott.

“Don’t worry about it,” he recently said, asked about the slump in Tesla EV sales. “They’re fine.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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