Biden administration violated First Amendment over COVID-19 content on social media, court of appeals rules

The Biden administration "ran afoul" of the First Amendment by trying to pressure social media platforms over controversial COVID-19 content, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled Friday. 

In its 75-page ruling, the appeals court, made up of two George W. Bush nominees and one Trump nominee, said that President Biden, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FBI and the surgeon general cannot "coerce" social media platforms to remove content it deems problematic. 

However, in its ruling, the court threw out language from a Louisiana judge in July who ruled that the government could not contact social media platforms to urge them to take down content.