US Court Of Appeals To Consider Restrictions On Biden Government Communications With Social Media

US President Joe Biden. (photo: twitter @jobiden)

JAKARTA - A federal appeals court in the US on Thursday 10 August will consider removing a Louisiana judge's order limiting President Joe Biden's administration's ability to communicate with social media companies to encourage them to moderate information that is considered dangerous or misleading.

A panel of three judges from the United States Court of Appeals that tends to be conservative in New Orleans is scheduled to hear arguments in the administration's appeal regarding the judge's decision, which found that the government was wrongly encouraging social media companies to suppress disliked political views.

Judge Terry Doughty's decision on July 4 comes at the request of the Louisiana and Missouri state attorneys general who claim that conservative remarks have been censored on social media platforms, especially on COVID-19 policies.

Doughty, who was appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump, said officials under Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Trump had effectively forced social media companies to censor posts that feared would spark vaccine doubts during the COVID-19 pandemic or shake up elections.

He said the "Orwellian" attempt began in 2019 with officials calling on social media companies such as Facebook's parent Meta Platform, Alphabet Inc-own parent YouTube, and Twitter, now known as X Corp, to limit the deployment of posts deemed misinformation.

Doughty said the measures led to pressure on posts opposing vaccines, mask requirements, and lockdown restrictions ordered by the government to address the spread of COVID-19, as well as opposition to the validity of the 2020 election, which Biden won over Trump.

The judge, whose court building at Monroe has become a favorite for Republican challenges to Biden's policy, said the "wide sensor campaign" violated the guarantee of freedom of speech from the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

He banned government agencies, including the Department of Health and Humanitarian Services as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, from speaking with social media companies to seek removal or suppression of content containing protected free speech, with narrow exceptions.

The Biden administration quickly filed an appeal, and the Fifth Circuit temporarily suspended the judge's decision while listening to the case.

The government denies forcing social media companies to remove any posts. The government said Doughty's order hampered its ability to address misinformation in a state of emergency and violated the government's own right to speak freely.

The panel that will hear Biden's administrative appeal includes three judges who were all appointed by the president of the Republic, US Circuit Judge Dante Brown Clement, Jennifer Walker Elrod, and Don Willett.

This case has drawn a lot of opinion from court activists, which in general broke down by party line. Republican state attorney generals and members of Congress have provided support to the two states, while states led by Democrats support the government.