Judge Restricts Biden Administration’s Collaboration with Social Media Companies

In a significant development, a judge has issued a ruling that prevents various federal agencies and officials within the Biden administration from engaging with social media companies concerning “protected speech.” This decision, hailed as a blow to censorship, emerged as a result of a lawsuit filed in 2022 by attorneys general from Louisiana and Missouri. Their legal action claimed that the federal government had overstepped its bounds by pressuring social media platforms to address content related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and electoral influence.

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty of Louisiana justified the injunction by citing compelling evidence of an extensive censorship campaign. In his written statement, he described the situation as resembling a dystopian reality, drawing parallels to an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth” during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period marked by widespread skepticism and uncertainty.

Republican Senator Eric Schmitt, the former Missouri attorney general, celebrated the ruling as a resounding victory for the First Amendment and a setback for censorship via Twitter. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry emphasized that the injunction safeguards the core political expression of ordinary Americans on social media platforms, preventing the administration from curtailing their freedom of speech.

Landry further expressed his shock and outrage at the revelation that senior federal officials believed they had the authority to dictate what Americans could or could not say about COVID-19, elections, government criticism, and other subjects on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The White House, through an anonymous official, stated that the Justice Department is currently reviewing the injunction and evaluating its legal options. While acknowledging the responsibility of social media platforms to consider the impact of their content on the public, the official maintained that independent choices regarding information presentation should be made by these companies.

The court order specifically identifies various government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI, that are restrained from engaging in discussions with social media companies aimed at influencing the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.

Exceptions to the injunction include the notification of social media platforms about criminal activities, conspiracies, national security threats, and other related dangers present on their platforms.

Individuals such as Jim Hoft, the owner of a conservative website, were among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The legal action accused the administration of leveraging regulatory actions to compel social media platforms to suppress what it deemed misinformation about masks, vaccines, election integrity, and stories involving Hunter Biden’s laptop, the son of the president.

The administration’s legal team argued that social media companies had the discretion to determine what constituted misinformation and how to combat it. They likened the lawsuit to an attempt to silence the federal government under the pretext of protecting the speech rights of others, characterizing it as a legal gag order on government officials. The administration maintained that the proposed injunction would significantly impede its ability to combat foreign influence campaigns, prosecute crimes, ensure national security, and provide accurate information on crucial public concerns like healthcare and election integrity.

Reporting from O’Fallon, Missouri, contributed by Salter. Additional contributions from journalists Kevin McGill in New Orleans and Cal Woodward, Colleen Long, and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington, D.C., for Big Big News.

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More about social media censorship

• Judge limits Biden administration in working with social media companies
• Attorneys General Lawsuit
• U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty
• Republican Senator Eric Schmitt’s Twitter
• Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry’s Statement
• White House Official’s Statement