New York wants social media to “Stop Hiding Hate.” Here’s what users think.
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On October 1, 2025, New York State’s “Stop Hiding Hate” law took effect. Under the law, large social media companies must report if and how they define, flag, and manage posts that include hate speech, racism, extremism, disinformation/misinformation, harassment, or foreign political interference. Elon Musk’s X Corporation has already sued the state and intends to continue fighting the law.
New York’s law may or may not stand. But if the law remains in place—or if more states successfully enact laws like it—social media companies will need to figure out how they can moderate content and keep users happy.
NRG recently polled 1,039 US social media users aged 18 to 64 on exactly this topic. In January 2025, we found:
A plurality of social media users prefer less government involvement. Four in ten (39%) want the government to be less involved in influencing how social media platforms moderate content. Only 25% want the government to be more involved. Most users said the government was either too strict (31%) or about right (36%) in its approach to content moderation—and only 32% said “too lenient.”
Users want platforms to moderate objectionable or potentially offensive content. When presented with various types of posts—those that encourage violence, spread misinformation, include racism, lure someone into a scam and more—most users wanted to remove the post or allow the post to stay up with restrictions.
Community notes are an answer, but the debate remains open. In theory, 44% of users want social media companies to use independent fact-checkers to moderate content (36% say community notes, 12% say no moderation). But, in practice, 57% of X users say the Community Notes program improved the quality of content on the platform (only 13% said notes had a negative impact). Multiple solutions are possible, but there’s no silver bullet.
Voters may have warmed towards content moderation since these numbers were published. Trump, who was at one time banned from Twitter, has repeatedly criticized social media content moderation. And Musk’s company, X Corp, is pushing back against the Stop Hiding Hate Act. Both men have become less popular since Trump took office. And, generally speaking, American voters tend to sour on the president’s agenda the longer he spends in the White House.
New York’s position on content moderation may be more popular now than it was when the law was initially signed in December 2024. More research is needed. But for now, you can find our latest deep dive on content moderation here.
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