WASHINGTON — A US federal judge on Tuesday restricted some agencies and officials in President Joe Biden’s administration from meeting and communicating with social media companies to moderate their content, according to a court filing.
The injunction came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, who alleged that US government officials went too far in their efforts to encourage social media companies to address the posts that they were concerned might contribute to concerns about vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. or change the elections.
The ruling said that government agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI could not speak to social media companies for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any way the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of of content”. containing protected free speech” under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
A White House official said the Justice Department was reviewing the order and would assess its options.
The order also lists in its restrictions officials, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Jen Easterly, who heads the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
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.
The injunction was first reported by the Washington Post.
Tuesday’s order marks a victory for Republicans who had 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.
Matrix metaplatforms of Facebook and Instagram (META.O)Twitter and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) YouTube did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
