July 4, 2023
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked key Biden administration agencies and officials from meeting and communicating with social media companies about protected speech, in an extraordinary preliminary injunction in an ongoing case that could have profound effects on the First Amendment.
The injunction came in response to a lawsuit brought by Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, who allege that government officials went too far in their efforts to encourage social media companies to address posts that they worried could contribute to vaccine hesitancy during the pandemic or upend elections..
Over the past five years, coordination and communication between government officials and the companies increased as the federal government responded to rising election interference and voter suppression efforts after revelations that Russian actors had sowed disinformation on U.S. social sites during the 2016 election. Public health officials also frequently communicated with the companies during the coronavirus pandemic, as falsehoods about the virus and vaccines spread on social networks including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube...
The injunction was a victory for the state attorneys general, who have accused the Biden administration of enabling a sprawling federal Censorship Enterprise to encourage tech giants to remove politically unfavorable viewpoints and speakers, and for conservatives whove accused the government of suppressing their speech. In their filings, the attorneys general alleged the actions amount to the most egregious violations of the First Amendment in the history of the United States of America.
The judge, Terry A. Doughty, has yet to make a final ruling in the case, but in issuing the injunction, he signaled he is likely to side with the Republican attorneys general and find that the Biden administration ran afoul of the First Amendment. He wrote that the attorneys general have produced evidence of a massive effort by Defendants, from the White House to federal agencies, to suppress speech based on its content....
In his order, the judge made some exceptions for communications between government officials and the companies, including to warn them of national security threats, criminal activity or voter suppression.