The Biden administration on Wednesday appealed a federal judge’s ruling that restricted some agencies and officials from meeting and communicating with social media companies to moderate their content, according to a court filing.
The appeal notice filed Wednesday signals the administration’s plan to ask the New Orleans Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to review the ruling in a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s efforts to persuade social media companies to post publications that he considered disinformation.
The lawsuit, brought by the Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, alleges that US government officials went too far in their efforts to encourage social media companies to address posts they worried might contribute to vaccine hesitancy during the covid-19 pandemic or changing elections.
The injunction issued Tuesday prohibited government agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI from speaking to social media companies for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any way the removal, deletion, suppression or reduction”. content containing protected free speech” under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Judge Terry Doughty, in an order filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, made some exceptions for communications between government officials and businesses, including warning of national security risks and about criminal activities.
His order marked a victory for Republicans who have sued the Biden administration, saying it was using the coronavirus health crisis and the threat of misinformation as an excuse to curb views that disagreed with the government.
US officials have said their goal was to crack down on misinformation about Covid vaccines to curb preventable deaths.
