A federal judge on Tuesday issued a key injunction against the Biden administration, preventing officials from any further pressuring of Big Tech companies to mute or ban certain accounts in the future, a move that free speech advocates say will protect opinions at odds with government surveillance agencies.
The move, first reported by the Washington Post, came in response to lawsuits filed by Republican attorneys general who claimed federal officials overstepped their authority by contacting companies like Twitter and Facebook to shut down accounts and chat rooms dedicated to questioning the efficacy of Covid vaccines during the height of the pandemic. While a decision in the case is not yet final, court watchers expect Judge Terry A. Doughty to side with Republicans, ending over a decade of cooperative efforts in place between federal authorities and tech leaders who wield an outside ability to control public dialogue.
In the injunction, which can be read here, lists the many limitations likely to be placed to federal authorities during their interactions with tech companies, including:
(1) meeting with social-media companies 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; (2) specifically flagging content or posts on social-media platforms and/or forwarding such to social-media companies urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner for removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech; and (3) urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner social-media companies to change their guidelines for removing, deleting, suppressing, or reducing content containing protected free speech.
Separately, Judge Doughty clarified that officials will be allowed to communicate with tech companies regarding accounts or posts which may be affiliated with criminal activity such as child pornography. For years the Federal Bureau of Investigation has relied on cooperation from websites and social media companies to identify pedophile networks. In addition, federal officials will be allowed to communicate about issues regarding national security threats, illegal political campaign activities, and cyber attacks.
The White House said the Justice Department is evaluating its options.
“This Administration has promoted responsible actions to protect public health, safety, and security when confronted by challenges like a deadly pandemic and foreign attacks on our elections,” the official said. “Our consistent view remains that social media platforms have a critical responsibility to take account of the effects their platforms are having on the American people, but make independent choices about the information they present.”