Current:Home > ScamsAppeal arguments are set on an order limiting Biden administration communications with social media-InfoLens
Appeal arguments are set on an order limiting Biden administration communications with social media
View Date:2024-12-23 15:14:05
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Biden administration attorneys were set to ask appellate court judges in New Orleans on Thursday to block a Louisiana-based federal judge’s broad order limiting executive branch officials and agencies’ communications with social media companies about controversial online posts.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty of Monroe issued the order last month in a lawsuit brought by Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, who will be asking the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals to uphold the order. Plaintiffs also include a conservative website owner and four individual critics of government COVID-19 policies.
Critics of the ruling say it could hamper attempts to squelch misinformation on topics such as public health and elections. Supporters of the order say it keeps the government from illegally censoring points of view.
The 5th Circuit granted a temporary pause on enforcement of the order on July 14, giving both sides time to file briefs and prepare for Thursday’s hearing. A panel of three judges was scheduled to hear arguments: Edith Brown Clement and Jennifer Walker Elrod, nominated to the court by former President George W. Bush; and Don Willett, nominated by former President Donald Trump.
Filed last year, the lawsuit claimed the administration, in effect, censored free speech by discussing possible regulatory action the government could take while pressuring companies to remove what it deemed misinformation. COVID-19 vaccines, legal issues involving President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and election fraud allegations were among the topics spotlighted in the lawsuit.
Doughty, nominated to the federal bench by Trump, issued an Independence Day order and accompanying reasons that covered more than 160 pages. He said the plaintiffs were likely to win the lawsuit. His injunction blocked the Health and Human Services Department, the FBI and multiple other government agencies and administration officials from “encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”
Administration lawyers said the order was overly broad and vague, raising questions about what officials can say in conversations with social media companies or in public statements. They said Doughty’s order posed a threat of “grave” public harm by chilling executive branch efforts to combat online misinformation. And they said there has been no evidence of threats by the administration.
“The district court identified no evidence suggesting that a threat accompanied any request for the removal of content,” the administration said. “Indeed, the order denying the stay — presumably highlighting the ostensibly strongest evidence — referred to ‘a series of public media statements.’”
In response, the attorneys general say in briefs that the order ended an “egregious campaign” by the administration that “fundamentally distorted online discourse in America on great social and political questions.”
The White House has said publicly it disagrees with the ruling but has said little about how and whether it has affected communication with social media companies so far.
veryGood! (35)
Related
- Can I take on 2 separate jobs in the same company? Ask HR
- Details on Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s Next Movie After Barbie Revealed
- North Carolina Republicans enact voting, election boards changes over Democratic governor’s vetoes
- Israel-Hamas war death toll tops 1,500 as Gaza Strip is bombed and gun battles rage for a third day
- Jordan Chiles Reveals She Still Has Bronze Medal in Emotional Update After 2024 Olympics Controversy
- Suspect arrested after mother and son found shot to death inside burned home
- 1 dead, 3 injured after schooner's mast collapses onto boat deck
- Khloe Kardashian Proves Babies Tatum and True Thompson Are Growing Up Fast in Sweet Sibling Photo
- More than 150 pronghorns hit, killed on Colorado roads as animals sought shelter from snow
- Alex Jones, Ronna McDaniel potential witnesses in Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro’s Georgia trial
Ranking
- Moana 2 Star Dwayne Johnson Shares the Empowering Message Film Sends to Young Girls
- Arkansas purges 427K from Medicaid after post-pandemic roll review; Advocates worry about oversights
- Brendan Malone, former Detroit ‘Bad Boys’ assistant and father of Nuggets coach, dies at 81
- Justin Jefferson hamstring injury: Vikings taking cautious approach with star receiver
- Lou Donaldson, jazz saxophonist who blended many influences, dead at 98
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs bill expanding conservatorship law
- Food Network Star Michael Chiarello's Company Addresses His Fatal Allergic Reaction
- Vermont police search for killer of a retired college dean shot on trail near university
Recommendation
-
Jamie Lee Curtis and Don Lemon quit X, formerly Twitter: 'Time for me to leave'
-
X removing Hamas-linked accounts following shock attack
-
Under heavy bombing, Palestinians in Gaza move from place to place, only to discover nowhere is safe
-
Swans in Florida that date to Queen Elizabeth II gift are rounded up for their annual physicals
-
Too Hot to Handle’s Francesca Farago Gives Birth, Welcomes Twins With Jesse Sullivan
-
Khloe Kardashian Proves Babies Tatum and True Thompson Are Growing Up Fast in Sweet Sibling Photo
-
The 'Margaritaville' snail: meet the new species named after a Jimmy Buffett song
-
Amazon October Prime Day 2023 Headphones Deals: $170 Off Beats, $100 Off Bose & More