The White House, health officials and the FBI may have violated the First Amendment rights of people posting about COVID-19 and elections on social media by pressuring technology companies to suppress or remove the posts, a federal appeals court ruled late Friday.
The decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals partly upheld an order from a Louisiana federal judge that blocked many federal agencies from having contact with companies like Facebook, YouTube and X, formerly Twitter, about content moderation.
The Biden administration has 10 days to seek a Supreme Court review of the ruling.
The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The states of Louisiana and Missouri filed the lawsuit along with a conservative website owner and four people who opposed the administration’s COVID-19 policy.
The lawsuit accused administration officials of coercing platforms into taking down controversial content including election fraud, the FBI’s handling of Hunter Biden’s laptop and the COVID pandemic.
Read more at USAtoday.com
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