“A federal judge has made a historic ruling by partially granting an injunction that blocks various Biden administration officials and government agencies like the Justice Department and the FBI from working with big tech firms to censor posts on social media.”
More from the Epoch Times.
The judge, Terry A. Doughty, wrote in the July 4 judgment (pdf) that various government agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are prohibited from taking a range of actions with regards to social media companies.
Specifically, the agencies and their staff members are prohibited from meeting or contacting by phone, email, text message or “engaging in any communication of any kind with social-media companies urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner for removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech,” per the injunction.
The agencies are also barred from flagging content on posts on social media platforms and forwarding them to the companies with requests for action such as removing or otherwise suppressing their reach.
Encouraging or otherwise egging on social media companies to change their guidelines for the removal, suppression, or reduction of content that contains protected free speech by the government is also not allowed.
Injunctions are typically partial (this one is) and temporary. Big Gov can still flag criminal activity and threats to national security, which – if you understand anything about Democrats and the Deep State, includes speech to which they object. The games will likely continue with the injunction in place while legal challenges proceed. Louisiana and Missouri are suing the government, given the evidence uncovered in the Twitter Files (and I suspect other sources). The judge refused to dismiss their case, claiming it has merit.
Given the fraction of the systemic suppression of First Amendment Rights of which we are aware, merit appears to be an understatement. A blow to the whole notion that these were actions by private companies when in fact, they were targeted acts at the behest of federal agents and bureaucrats.
I doubt the suit will end well for the Government. Free Speech somehow manages to retain a level of respect most other bits of our founding docs can’t manage. And SCOTUS continues to be the First Amendment’s friend – and that’s where this will inevitably end. But it won’t mean a heck of a lot if someone doesn’t clarify what the government can call ‘criminal activity and threats to national security.’
There’s also the matter of enforcement. The same branch of government responsible for the offense is the one that is supposed to police against potential infringements. That’ll never happen. It will be up to state AGs to do that, and if you failed to notice, there are a few states missing from the lawsuit, including mine.
HT | Dr. Meryl Nass
