A Trump-appointed judge’s decision blocking several parts of the federal government from contacting social media companies about a wide variety of posts is “a blow to public safety,” according to former federal prosecutor Shanlon Wu.
On Tuesday, Judge Terry A. Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction barring agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Justice and the FBI, from making contact 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 federal government is still permitted to communicate with the companies in attempts to thwart criminal activity and confront national security threats, according to the injunction. The decision comes as part of a lawsuit filed against the federal government by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri, who argued that it went too far in its efforts to encourage platforms to address content that, in the view of federal officials, could encourage vaccine hesitancy or election denialism.
The ruling is the first of its kind, and some legal scholars have warned that it could have a significant impact on the First Amendment and undo years of work to increase coordination between the government and social media companies to stem the flow of misinformation. Others, citing the example of the pandemic, have said that the scientific understanding at the time about COVID-19 and a rapidly developed vaccine was not settled and so should have been subject to public debate.
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In a series of tweets about the decision, Wu, also a legal analyst who served as counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno in the Clinton administration, called Doughty’s ruling a “victory for misinformation” and “a blow to public safety.” He also argued that some of the things the injunction sought to prohibit are already covered by the First Amendment.
A Fourth of July victory for misinformation by Trump federal judge Terry Doughty just issued preliminary injunction barring “parts of the Biden administration from communicating with social media platforms about broad swaths of content online” a blow to public safety.
— Shanlon Wu (@shanlonwu) July 4, 2023
“A Fourth of July victory for misinformation by Trump federal judge Terry Doughty just issued preliminary injunction barring ‘parts of the Biden administration from communicating with social media platforms about broad swaths of content online,’ a blow to public safety,” Wu wrote.
Order “prohibits government from “urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.” 🤣🤣🤣 Something called the First Amendment already does that.
— Shanlon Wu (@shanlonwu) July 4, 2023
He added in another tweet: “Trump Judge Terry Doughty enjoins Health & Human services and FBI specifically-guaranteed to enable spread of misinformation about public health issues like Covid pandemic & enabling insurrection promoting domestic terror-case brought by Republicans like Missouri & Louisiana AGs.”
In a statement released on Tuesday, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry called the ruling a “historic injunction” which prevents the Biden administration “from censoring the core political speech of ordinary Americans on social media.”
It was also welcomed by Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt, who wrote on Twitter: “A Federal Judge in Missouri v. Biden just granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the FBI, DOJ, DHS & other agencies from working with Big Tech to censor on social media.
“Big win for the First Amendment on this Independence Day. I’m proud to have led the fight.”
Responding to an inquiry from The Washington Post, the White House said that the Justice Department is reviewing the ruling and determining its options in response.
“This Administration has promoted responsible actions to protect public health, safety, and security when confronted by challenges like a deadly pandemic and foreign attacks on our elections,” an official told the outlet. “Our consistent view remains that social media platforms have a critical responsibility to take account of the effects their platforms are having on the American people, but make independent choices about the information they present.”
Newsweek has reached out to the White House press office via email for comment.
Update, 5/7/23, 7:15 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and reaction.
