Did US violate First Amendment by pressuring social media? Supreme Court will decide

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Did US violate First Amendment by pressuring…

U.S. Supreme Court Did US violate First Amendment by pressuring social media? Supreme Court will decide

By Debra Cassens Weiss

October 24, 2023, 9:00 am CDT

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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether government pressure transformed social media platforms’ content decisions into state action, violating the First Amendment. Image from Shutterstock.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider whether the U.S. government unconstitutionally pressured social media companies to curb COVID-19 misinformation and other content.

The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether government pressure transformed the social media platforms’ content decisions into state action, violating the First Amendment rights of those who challenged the law. The plaintiffs were the states of Missouri and Louisiana and social media users whose posts were restricted.

The New York Times, SCOTUSblog, the Associated Press, Reuters and the Washington Post are among the publications with coverage.

The Supreme Court also granted the government’s request to temporarily block an injunction banning social media coercion by several parts of government. The injunction, as modified by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans, initially applied to the White House, the surgeon general, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI. The 5th Circuit extended the injunction to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Oct. 3, according to SCOTUSblog.

Justice Samuel Alito dissented from the Supreme Court’s decision to lift the restrictions on government officials, which continues until a decision in the case. His dissent was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

Alito said the decision to lift the restrictions was “highly disturbing” and “most unfortunate.”

“At this time in the history of our country, what the court has done, I fear, will be seen by some as giving the government a green light to use heavy-handed tactics to skew the presentation of views on the medium that increasingly dominates the dissemination of news,” Alito wrote.

The case is Murthy v. Missouri.

The SCOTUSblog case page is here.

See also:

“Justice Alito temporarily blocks curbs on Biden administration’s communications with social media”

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Related topics: 5th Circuit Court | U.S. Supreme Court | States | Media & Communications Law | First Amendment | Constitutional Law | Judiciary | Internet Law | Government | Louisiana | Missouri | Federal Government | Public Interest You might also like:

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