July 10, 2023
Can the US government communicate or coordinate with social media companies. According to a recent federal judge’s ruling – no, because the judge says it’s contributing to the stifling of conservative voices online. But today – the Department of Justice said – we’ll see about that.
The DOJ just filed this appeal to the 5th Circuit saying the judge’s temporary injunction is overly and unnecessarily broad and needs to be revoked while the case plays out. DOJ says the temporary injunction could chill their law enforcement efforts to protect national security interests. And more importantly – the appeal says the Republican led states that filed the lawsuit didn’t prove that anyone’s voice or 1st Amendment rights were violated by the government’s communication with social media companies. The Justice Department says its willing to take this issue all the way up to the Supreme Court.
In case you missed it – I told you in this video — a federal judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the federal government from coordinating or even communicating with social media companies when it comes to “protected speech” issues. That temporary injunction stops all kinds of federal agencies, departments and individuals from communicating with, emailing, or coordinating with any social media company.
The original lawsuit was filed by the attorneys general from Louisiana and Missouri – who went after the federal government saying government officials created a “censorship enterprise” to control speech on social media by encouraging the companies to address posts, or take down posts that would be considered election or health misinformation.
Because of the judge’s ruling, last week — the State Department had to cancel a meeting about the 2024 election with META.
We’ll have to see how the 5th Circuit rules.
Read the DOJ appeal to the 5th Circuit here.
