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The administration of Joe Biden appealed a recent court order restricting various federal agencies and specific employees from contacting the companies social networks over most of the content posted on their platforms.
He Department of Justice (DOJ) filed its notice of appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday, a day after US District Judge Terry Doughty, appointed by former President Donald Trump, ruled in favor of Missouri and Louisiana in a case focused on the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.
The Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Census Bureau, the FBI and the Department of Justice were named among the federal agencies to which Doughty banned communication with social media platforms about much of the content posted on their platforms
Judge Doughty also referred to specific representatives such as the White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, or the Secretary of Health, Xavier Becerra.
Specifically, it prohibits them from meeting with representatives of the networks to “urge, encourage, pressure or induce in any way the withdrawal, elimination, deletion or reduction of content” published in the exercise of freedom of expression.
All of them were also prohibited from sending them emails, letters or text messages for the same purpose, or calling them for that purpose as well.
The applicants considered that the Administration had overreached by pressuring the networks to remove certain posts with alleged misinformation about the coronavirus, security during the elections and other topics.
“Social networks have a critical responsibility to take action or to consider the effects their platforms have on Americans, but they make independent decisions about the information they present,” stressed the presidential spokeswoman in her press conference.
Jean-Pierre added that the Biden Administration will continue to “promote responsible action to protect public health and safety in the face of challenges such as a deadly pandemic or foreign attacks on the election.”
The magistrate had considered in his decision that During the covid-19 pandemic, the US federal government seemed to have assumed a role similar to that of the “Ministry of Truth”the fictional institution devised by George Orwell in his novel “1984”.
Doughty’s order does not prohibit communication with social media companies in connection with criminal activity, threats to national security, criminal efforts to suppress voting, malicious cyber activity, and threats to public safety.
In response to the ruling, White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre on Wednesday defended the government’s and its agencies’ interactions with social media companies and warned that the administration was considering how to react to the court decision.
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