A federal appeals court decided on Friday that the Biden administration cannot “coerce or significantly encourage” social media companies to remove content that it deems to be false, including information regarding COVID-19.

Collection of popular social media logos printed on white paper. (Photo: IStock)

According to Yahoo News, However, the fiveth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with its New Orleans office, has a three-judge panel. A Louisiana judge’s order that prohibited Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration from interacting with social media companies was substantially reduced by the Circuit Court of Appeals.

The injunction was put on hold by the court for ten days so the administration could apply for U.S. Review by the Supreme Court. The government is being defended by the US Department of Justice, which declined to comment.

The Biden administration contends that while it may have requested removal of posts from social media companies, it deemed to be damaging falsehoods, social media companies were never compelled to do so.

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The lower court judge determined that posts about COVID-19 and claims of electoral fraud were illegally censored on social media companies like Facebook, YouTube, and X Corp, formerly Twitter, all of which are owned by Meta Platforms.

According to NBC News, The Republican state attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana claimed that certain federal officials forced social media companies to restrict content in violation of U.S. law, and the 5th Circuit agreed with them. Free speech safeguards under the First Amendment of the Constitution.

However, the court annulled most of the injunction issued by the lower court, with the exception of a clause relating to suspected coercion, which it narrowed, in an unsigned ruling written by three judges who were chosen by Republican presidents.

The court stated that “content-moderation decisions made by social media companies must be theirs and theirs alone.”

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