TLDR
- Trump’s DOJ settled a lawsuit alleging Biden officials pressured social media giants to silence Americans on COVID-19, the Hunter Biden laptop and the 2020 election.
- Three federal agencies are now banned for 10 years from threatening or pressuring social media companies to suppress protected speech.
- The case reached the Supreme Court, which declined to rule on the merits; the settlement now delivers the restrictions the high court avoided.
- Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Biden administration “coerced social media companies to stifle free speech” — especially targeting conservative voices.
The federal government is now legally barred from pressuring social media companies to silence Americans online — and the ban lasts a decade.
Trump’s Justice Department settled a landmark lawsuit Tuesday alleging that the Biden administration coerced platforms including Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn and YouTube to suppress posts about COVID-19, the Hunter Biden laptop scandal and the 2020 presidential election.
Three agencies — the Surgeon General’s office, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — are prohibited for 10 years from threatening or coercing those platforms to censor protected speech.
The settlement, filed in federal court in Louisiana, resolves a case brought by Missouri, Louisiana and several individual plaintiffs. A federal court there had already found the government likely caused certain plaintiffs to be deplatformed.
The case had reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which voted 6-3 to reject a lower court ruling on standing grounds — never ruling on whether the Biden administration actually violated the First Amendment.
“The Biden administration coerced social media companies to stifle free speech that they disapproved of,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “We will never waver on protecting Americans’ right to speak freely.”
Mr. Trump, on his first day back in office, issued an executive order condemning his predecessor for what he called trampling Americans’ free speech rights online.
Read more:
• Trump Justice Department settles social media censorship case against Biden administration
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