Appeals Court Rules Biden Officials Violated First Amendment In Social Media Censorship Case | Eastern North Carolina Now

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Biden administration cannot coerce or “significantly encourage” social media companies to censor content, saying that previous actions of the administration had violated the First Amendment.

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    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Leif Le Mahieu.

    A federal appeals court has ruled that the Biden administration cannot coerce or "significantly encourage" social media companies to censor content, saying that previous actions of the administration had violated the First Amendment.

    The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday partially upheld a lower court's ruling in Missouri vs. Biden barring the FBI, the Centers for Disease Control, the White House, and the surgeon general from being able to pressure social media companies to take down or limit the scope of content the administration didn't like. The court specifically ruled against a number of officials, including White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

    "Defendants, and their employees and agents, shall take no actions, formal or informal, directly or indirectly, to coerce or significantly encourage social-media companies to remove, delete, suppress, or reduce, including through altering their algorithms, posted social-media content containing protected free speech," the decision said. "That includes, but is not limited to, compelling the platforms to act, such as by intimating that some form of punishment will follow a failure to comply with any request, or supervising, directing, or otherwise meaningfully controlling the social-media companies' decision-making process."

    Documents released by Congress last month show that a White House official asked Facebook to promote legacy outlets and stifle The Daily Wire's reach in order to accomplish the administration's directives on suppressing content that clashed with its COVID vaccine agenda.

    The ruling from the appeals court was not as expansive as the original ruling against the Biden administration from U.S. Judge Terry A. Doughty. Injunctions against the HHS, the Census Bureau, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were not upheld.

    "If you were to change the algorithm so that people were more likely to see NYT, WSJ, any authoritative news source over Daily Wire, Tomi Lahren, polarizing people. You wouldn't have a mechanism to check the material impact?" then White House Digital Director Rob Flaherty said in a meeting with Facebook in 2021. Flaherty was named as one of the defendants in the case who the injunction applied to.

    The decision against the Biden administration, which was first sued by several states including Louisiana and Missouri. The states said in the lawsuit that the Biden administration's actions were "the most egregious violations of the First Amendment in the history of the United States of America."

    The decision was celebrated by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. "The First Amendment remains intact," he posted on X. "The first brick was laid in the wall of separation between tech and state on July 4th, and this ruling is yet another brick."

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    Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said the decision was "a major win against censorship, totalitarianism, and Biden."

poll#206
In stripping away the heavy varnish of fakery by the heavy handed Corrupt Corporate Media; in taking a true view of what is real, right now with clear open eyes: How do you see this 46th President of these States United; what is your visceral first impression of Joe Biden after nearly 3 years on the job?
  A good man, wise and kind
  The Socialist President
  A president in praise of his son
  The Non Patriot President
  A successful president
  The Idiot President
  A knowledgeable president
  A corrupt president
  A perfect leader of the Democratic Socialist party
  The man is married to a "Doctor"
609 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?


poll#128
Where do you stand on the wanton censorship by Big Tech Platforms, while retaining their Section 230 carveout indemnifying them for Slander /Defamation lawsuits and Copyright infringements?
  Big Tech Platforms have the right to Censor all speech providing they voluntarily relinquish their Section 230 Carveout.
  Big Tech Platforms DO NOT have the right to Censor any speech, while retaining multiple indemnifications by virtue of the Section 230 Carveout.
  I know nothing of this 230 talk, but "I do love me some social media".
476 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?


poll#201
Considering what real news is available for all to witness, and in great specificity, should one pursue what is true outside of the channeled realm of the corrupt corporate /legacy media, and: Is Institutionalized Corruption real, and is it a hindrance to sustaining our Constitutional Republic now, and for future generations of American citizens?
  Yes
  No
  Not sure
455 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?


poll#175
Understanding that this fragile Republic of the self-governed is in a precarious space in our nation's vast history: What is your honor bound patriotic duty in helping to sustain the continuance of these United States of America?
  I will depend on my Democratic Socialist politicians to continue to march hard toward the Left to provide Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for all who think and do as they are told.
  I will defend the Constitution of the United States of America, and support all elected leaders who pledge to protect and insure the continued sovereignty of this Representative Republic.
  I am very concerned about maintaining my current life style without working. I was told that as long as I vote Democrat, I had nothing to worry about ... but now I worry.
296 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?

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Jane said:
( September 17th, 2023 @ 8:06 pm )
 
That last question was hard to accept as the correct answer being the middle option because people who work for the federal government HAVE to pledge an oath to keep their job, honest or not (written by a 30-year HONEST retired federal employee). I chose that one anyway as the nearest to the correct option on there.



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