US judge blocks Biden officials from contacting social media sites

A US federal judge has ruled that several Biden administration officials are prohibited from contacting social media companies about moderating posts protected by the First Amendment.

Judge Terry A. Doughty The verdict was pronounced in a 155-page memorandum They believe the plaintiffs are likely to prove that federal government officials are targeting and suppressing “millions of protected free speech postings by American citizens.”

The plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of establishing that the government has used its power to silence the opposition. opposition to covid-19 vaccines; opposing COVID-19 masking and lockdowns; Opposition to the lab-leak theory of Covid-19; protesting the legality of the 2020 election; opposition to the policies of President Biden; the statement that the Hunter Biden laptop story was true; and opposition to the policies of government officials in power. Everyone was suppressed. It is quite clear that each instance or category of suppressed speech was conservative in nature. This targeted suppression of conservative views is a perfect example of viewpoint discrimination of political speech. American citizens have the right to engage in free debate on important issues affecting the country.

In form of Washington Post According to reports, Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri have sued President Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the CDC, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, claiming that “starting in 2017 Is – four years before Biden was president – ​​officials within the government began laying the groundwork for a ‘systemic and systematic campaign’ to control speech on social media.

new York Times Responding to the decision, Jameel Jaffar, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said, “It cannot be that the government violates the First Amendment simply by engaging with platforms regarding their content-moderation decisions and policies.” …if that is what the Court is saying here, it is a very radical proposition not supported by case law.

The NYT also has a statement from an unnamed White House official, which said, “Our consistent view is that social media platforms have an important responsibility to account for the impact their platforms have on the American people, But make free choices about the information they give.” Present,” and notes that the Department of Justice is reviewing the decision as it evaluates its next steps.

The injunction barred people like DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Cyber ​​Security and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) leader Jane Easterly, and FBI Foreign Influence Task Force leader Laura Dehamlo, as well as employees of those agencies and many others, to contact, Prevents from working or working together. Asking social media companies about posts protected by the First Amendment.

Listed exceptions include:

The people named in the lawsuit are also barred from working with academic groups that focus on social media, such as the Election Integrity Partnership, the Virality Project, and the Stanford Internet Observatory.