The Supreme Court has thrown out a lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s administration that alleged officials illegally pressured social media companies to take down content.
On Wednesday, the high court ruled the parties behind the lawsuit did not have standing to bring the case.
“The lawsuit, spearheaded by Republican state attorneys general in Missouri and Louisiana, had fared well in the lower courts, at one point resulting in an unprecedented injunction that blocked top government officials from communicating with social-media companies about removing ‘content containing protected free speech’ from their platforms,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
It added, “The states claimed executive branch officials for years pressured digital platforms to censor conservative speakers. That campaign reached a fever pitch in 2021, they alleged, after President Biden took office and sought to promote Covid vaccines and counter former President Donald Trump’s claims that the election was rigged.”
The lawsuit highlighted emails from Biden administration officials to Facebook asking why it had not taken down content it deemed false or misleading.
However, the emails also showed Facebook executive Nick Clegg responded by pushing back on the suggestion the platform should take down the posts due to free speech concerns.
But, Clegg added Facebook had “demoted” the post to limit its reach.
The lawsuit also claimed FBI officials falsely conveyed to social media companies a 2020 story published by The New York Post about Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was misinformation — leading to the platforms cracking down on its reach.
Biden administration officials argued they have free speech rights and their messages to social media companies were not illegal.
