Federal Settlement Restricts Agencies from Pressuring Social Media on Speech

A federal court settlement announced on Tuesday restricts three U.S. government agencies from pressuring social media companies to suppress protected speech, marking the resolution of a long-running First Amendment lawsuit originally filed against the Biden administration.

The agreement in Missouri v. Biden, reached between the plaintiffs and the current Trump administration, imposes a 10-year consent decree on the Office of the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. These agencies are prohibited from threatening legal, regulatory, or economic penalties against platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube if the companies decline to remove, suppress, deplatform, or algorithmically limit the visibility of content deemed protected under the First Amendment. The decree also states that labels like "misinformation," "disinformation," or "malinformation" do not remove constitutional protections from speech. It applies specifically to content posted by the remaining plaintiffs, including health care activist Jill Hines and psychiatrist Aaron Kheriaty, as well as Missouri and...