As two Republican state attorneys general contested the legitimacy of the administration's efforts to combat misinformation, a federal judge on Tuesday barred officials from the Biden administration from corresponding with social media companies.
Former President Trump's appointee, U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting a large number of representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Justice, the State Department, and the FBI from contacting the companies.
The Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri are suing the administration over what they call a "campaign of censorship" in which the Biden administration allegedly "coordinated and colluded with social-media platforms to identify disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content."
They argued that the administration's public and private communications with social media companies about removing content about COVID-19 vaccines and public health precautions, election integrity, and other topics violated the First Amendment.
The 2020 Biden campaign, the Biden administration that followed, as well as other Democratic lawmakers, made a number of calls for Section 230 reform in response to the spread of misinformation, which the attorneys general cited as "threats" and a "campaign of pressure."
Social media companies are exempt from liability under Section 230 for third-party content posted on their platforms.
Additionally, they cited what the lawsuit referred to as "collusion" on the part of the Biden administration in its cooperation with social media companies to combat COVID-19 and election disinformation.
According to the injunction, representatives of the Biden administration are prohibited from contacting social media companies via email, phone, letter, text message, or in-person meeting "for the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech posted on social-media platforms," Doughty ruled.
Officials from the Biden administration are still able to communicate with platforms regarding criminal activity, threats to the nation's security, threats to the public's safety, and posts "intentionally misleading voters about voting requirements and procedures."
Former President Trump's appointee, U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting a large number of representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Justice, the State Department, and the FBI from contacting the companies.
The Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri are suing the administration over what they call a "campaign of censorship" in which the Biden administration allegedly "coordinated and colluded with social-media platforms to identify disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content."
They argued that the administration's public and private communications with social media companies about removing content about COVID-19 vaccines and public health precautions, election integrity, and other topics violated the First Amendment.
The 2020 Biden campaign, the Biden administration that followed, as well as other Democratic lawmakers, made a number of calls for Section 230 reform in response to the spread of misinformation, which the attorneys general cited as "threats" and a "campaign of pressure."
Social media companies are exempt from liability under Section 230 for third-party content posted on their platforms.
Additionally, they cited what the lawsuit referred to as "collusion" on the part of the Biden administration in its cooperation with social media companies to combat COVID-19 and election disinformation.
According to the injunction, representatives of the Biden administration are prohibited from contacting social media companies via email, phone, letter, text message, or in-person meeting "for the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech posted on social-media platforms," Doughty ruled.
Officials from the Biden administration are still able to communicate with platforms regarding criminal activity, threats to the nation's security, threats to the public's safety, and posts "intentionally misleading voters about voting requirements and procedures."
