5th Circuit Find Biden Administration, and Other Officials Possibly Violated First Amendment

The lawsuit accused the administration of coercing platforms to remove information about election fraud and the COVID-19 pandemic.

A US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on Friday ruled that the Biden administration, the FBI and top government health officials most likely violated the First Amendment rights of people posting about COVID-19, as well as about election fraud, on social media after they pressured social media platforms to remove misleading or false content.

The ruling partly upholds a lower court’s preliminary injunction: in early July, a federal judge in Louisiana restricted the Biden administration from communicating with social media platforms about various types of content online. The ruling is also a victory for conservatives who have accused social media sites of taking down content that is mostly right-leaning.

In their 75-page opinion, the judges wrote that the White House and the Office of the Surgeon General had “coerced the platforms to make their moderation decisions by way of intimidating messages and threats of adverse consequences” and “significantly encouraged the platforms’ decisions by commandeering their decision-making processes.”

“It is true that the officials have an interest in engaging with social media companies, including on issues such as misinformation and election interference. But the government is not permitted to advance these interests to the extent that it engages in viewpoint suppression,” the judges wrote.

The Biden administration has just 10 days to seek a Supreme Court review of the ruling.

“DOJ is reviewing the court’s decision and will evaluate its options in this case," the White House said in a statement.

"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. 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," they added.

The lawsuit was first filed by the states of Louisiana and Missouri paired with a conservative website owner and four others who opposed the White House’s COVID-19 policy.