United States: a federal judge prohibits the Biden administration from contacting social media platforms to limit or remove content it deems false or misleading

A federal judge in Louisiana on Tuesday barred the Biden administration from communicating with social media platforms about many broad online topics, a ruling that could stymie efforts to tackle false and misleading accounts of the coronavirus pandemic. coronavirus and other issues.

The ruling, which could have far-reaching First Amendment implications, is a major development in a bitter legal battle over the boundaries and limits of free speech online.

It’s a victory for Republicans who have often accused social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube of disproportionately removing right-leaning content, sometimes in conjunction with the government. Democrats say these platforms have failed to adequately police misinformation and hate speech, leading to dangerous consequences, including acts of violence.

In his decision, Judge Terry A. Doughty of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana said that certain parts of government, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Bureau of investigation, could not converse with social media companies “for the purpose of inducing, encouraging, coercing or in any way inducing the removal, deletion, removal or reduction of content containing free and protected speech”.

Republican attorneys general in Texas and Florida are defending ground-breaking state laws that prohibit internet platforms from taking down certain political content, and legal experts say these cases could eventually go to the Supreme Court. This year, the high court refused to limit a law allowing platforms to escape legal liability for the content users post on the sites.

Tuesday’s decision, in a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri, is likely to be appealed by the Biden administration, but its impact could compel officials, including including law enforcement, to refrain from alerting platforms to the presence of objectionable content.

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New York Times