Judge Rules in Social Media ‘Censorship’ Case Transcript

This morning, a federal judge in Louisiana is limiting the Biden administration from contacting social media companies. The judge saying the administration likely violated the First Amendment when it pressured those companies to remove certain posts. The order comes as Republican Attorneys General in two states sue the administration claiming it pressured sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to remove messages containing purported misinformation about COVID-19, election security and other issues.

COVID Misinformation. What’s your message to platforms like Facebook?

They’re killing people. Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated and they’re killing people.

Trump-appointed Judge Terry Doughty called the efforts by the Biden administration “Orwellian” saying, “American citizens have the right to engage in free debate about significant issues affecting the country.” The judge adding, “It is quite telling that each example or category of suppressed speech was conservative in nature.” The judge also issued a preliminary injunction barring top administration officials and several federal agencies including the Justice Department from having any contact with social media platforms for the purpose of encouraging the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech. The decision appears to take effect immediately, but can still be appealed.

The First Amendment does not prevent the government from trying to persuade people to do something, and the Supreme Court has explicitly held over and over and over again that the government has a constitutional right to attempt to persuade you to behave in a particular way. But the power is still left with the social media platforms.

No response yet from the White House or the Justice Department. The judge is allowing the government to still communicate with tech companies about illegal activity and national security threats.