Supreme Court rules in favor of Biden administration in social media case

The case, one of several dealing with how the First Amendment applies to technology platforms, was dismissed on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. The Supreme Court handed the Biden administration a major practical victory Wednesday, rejecting a Republican challenge to to prevent the government from contacting social media platforms to combat what it considers to be misinformation. .

The court ruled that the states and users who challenged these interactions did not suffer the kind of direct harm that gave them standing to sue justice.

The decision, by a vote of 6 to 3, left for another day fundamental questions about the First Amendment's limits on the government's power to influence technology companies who are the primary gatekeepers of information. in the Internet age.

The case arose from a barrage of communications from administration officials urging platforms to remove posts on topics such as the coronavirus vaccine and allegations of election fraud. The attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, both Republicans, sued, along with three doctors, the owner of a right-wing website that frequently spreads conspiracy theories and an activist concerned about Facebook removing her publications on the supposed side effects of the coronavirus. vaccine.

“Plaintiffs, without any concrete connection between their injuries and the defendants' conduct, ask us to conduct a review of communications that have lasted for years between dozens of federal officials, in different agencies, with different social media platforms, on different topics,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote on behalf of the majority. “The standing doctrine of this court prevents us from exercising such general legal oversight of other branches of government. »

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch, dissenting.

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