LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – U.S. Justice Department is seeking to overturn a judge’s decision that prohibited some federal agencies and officials from speaking with social media companies about moderating content on their platforms.
The judge’s ruling was the result of a Republican-backed lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s administration.
When U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty issued the order last week in Louisiana, the department sought the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to suspend it.
According to Doughty, federal organizations like the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services are not allowed to communicate with social media companies “for the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”
The Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri won the case thanks to the judge’s preliminary injunction after accusing the administration in court of illegally utilizing the COVID-19 epidemic and the fear of false information to stifle oppositional viewpoints. Former Republican President Donald Trump appointed Doughty.
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The ruling made reference to speech that is protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which forbids the government from “abridging the freedom of speech.”
A delay was requested by the Justice Department in a brief while it appeals the judge’s preliminary injunction.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Jen Easterly and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas were directly referenced in Doughty’s order.
According to U.S. officials, their goal in getting in touch with social media businesses was to stop spreading false information about COVID vaccinations and American elections in order to reduce avoidable deaths.
“The injunction threatens to chill this wholly lawful conduct and to place the Judiciary in the untenable position of superintending the Executive Branch’s communications.
“It raises grave separation-of-powers concerns,” the Justice Department filing said, referring to the Constitution’s division of powers among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. government.
Exceptions were established in the judge’s ruling for communications between government representatives and the businesses, including warnings about threats to public safety and regarding criminal conduct.