Judge deals blow to Biden admin in social media censorship case.

A Historic Ruling: Judge Partially Blocks Biden Administration from Censoring Social Media

A federal judge has made a groundbreaking decision by granting a partial injunction that prevents various Biden administration officials and government agencies from collaborating with big tech firms to censor social media posts.

This injunction is a response to a lawsuit filed by attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, who accuse Biden administration officials and government agencies of pressuring social media companies to suspend accounts and remove posts.

In the July 4 judgment (pdf), Judge Terry A. Doughty states that government agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are prohibited from engaging in various actions related to social media companies.

Specifically, the agencies and their staff members are prohibited from meeting or contacting social media companies to urge, encourage, pressure, or induce the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.

The agencies are also barred from flagging content on social media platforms and forwarding them to the companies with requests for action.

Encouraging social media companies to change their guidelines for the removal, suppression, or reduction of content that contains protected free speech is also not allowed.

According to the judge, the Republican attorneys general who filed the lawsuit have presented evidence of a significant effort by the government to suppress speech based on its content.

In an accompanying memorandum, the judge states that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in proving that the government has used its power to silence opposition.

While the ruling is not final, the preliminary injunction is a victory for the Republican attorneys general who accuse the Biden administration of pressuring big tech companies to engage in censorship-by-proxy.

‘We’re Not Done Yet’

Following the injunction, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey celebrates the decision on social media.

“The Court has granted our motion to block top officials in the federal government from violating the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans. What a way to celebrate Independence Day,” Bailey said in a statement on Twitter.

“The preliminary injunction prohibits nearly all of the federal government from coercing and colluding with social media companies to censor free speech,” Bailey added.

However, the judge made some exceptions in his order, allowing government officials to contact social media companies regarding criminal activity, threats to national security, misleading voter information, and posts that are not protected free speech.

The injunction applies to various named agencies as well as their agents, officers, employees, and contractors.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House and the agencies mentioned in the injunction for comment.

“We’re not done yet,” Bailey wrote in a post. “We’re just getting started.”

“Today, we won a historic injunction against the Biden Administration, preventing it from censoring the core political speech of ordinary Americans on social media,” said Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry in a statement.

“The evidence in our case is shocking and offensive, with senior federal officials deciding what Americans can and cannot say on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms.”