A federal judge has halted the Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) from pressuring Big Tech companies to suppress free speech on social media platforms.
On July 10, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty has denied the DOJ’s request to stay a ruling that places limits on government communications with social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Judge Doughty ruled today to deny the Biden administration’s motion to stay the injunction in the State of Missouri versus Biden – Social Media Censorship Case. This is excellent news! Judge Doughty writes: pic.twitter.com/HHd9KioINn
— Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) July 10, 2023
“Although this Preliminary Injunction involves numerous agencies, it is not as broad as it appears,” Doughty wrote in his ruling. “It only prohibits something the Defendants have no legal right to do—contacting 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.”
The case was brought up by Republican attorney generals, alleging that the Biden administration is putting pressure on social media companies to remove posts or suspend user accounts that question the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines or the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
The AGs of Louisiana and Missouri then filed a petition contesting the administration’s request to stay an injunction against its attempts to get in touch with social media companies concerning a range of online content, including the ability to report what they deem to be “misinformation.”
“Their position is fundamentally defiant toward the Court’s judgment. It demonstrates that the Government will continue violating First Amendment rights by censoring core political speech on social media as soon as it can get away with it. The motion to stay should be denied,” the petition read.
The ruling marked a win for Republicans and free speech advocates, who called it a preservation of Americans’ First Amendment rights.
“This could be arguably one of the most important First Amendment cases in modern history,” Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said in an interview after the ruling.
“If you look at the opinion that the judge lays out, he takes from our argument that this is basically one of the most massive undertakings of the federal government to limit American speech in the history of our country,” Landry, a Republican, continued. “The things that we uncovered, in this case, should be shocking, appalling, and concerning for all Americans.”
