The Blubber

On Monday, a federal judge denied the Biden administration's request to lift his order that restricts communication between the administration and major social media companies. Judge Terry Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana, who was appointed by Donald Trump, determined that the Republican state attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, who are the plaintiffs in the case, are likely to succeed in their lawsuit. This lawsuit challenges the collaboration between government agencies and social media giants to limit the spread of misleading information about the Covid-19 pandemic and election security.

Judge Doughty also concluded that the government would not suffer irreversible harm if agencies were unable to discuss specific topics with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. He emphasized that the plaintiffs' First Amendment free speech rights outweighed the interests of the defendants.

Furthermore, the judge rejected the Biden administration's argument that his preliminary injunction issued on July 4 was too broad. He clarified that the injunction solely prohibited cooperation with social media companies in a manner that would infringe upon users' protected free speech. Judge Doughty asserted that government officials should be trained to discern between protected and unprotected speech before collaborating with social media companies to suppress or remove posts.