Supreme Court split on White House contact with social media in censorship case

The Supreme Court weighed a historic First Amendment dispute on Monday between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat social media posts on subjects including COVID-19 information, election security, or possible threats.

Oral arguments before the high court on Monday centered on a high-profile lawsuit filed by Louisiana, Missouri, and other parties accusing officials in the Biden administration of relying on social media platforms to censor online viewpoints unconstitutionally, including conservative ideas. Justices appeared to be divided among a variety of ways to handle the final decision in the case, but all appeared slightly skeptical of the arguments brought by the plaintiffs.

The case began its ascent to the high court docket after a lower court issued an injunction against the federal government in July 2023 that was later narrowed by an appeals court. The Democratic administration succeeded in convincing the Supreme Court to block those rulings while it considers the matter.

The injunction blocked an array of executive branch officials from communicating with platforms regarding content moderation, such as urging the deletion of certain posts. The two matters for the justices to address are whether the plaintiffs have standing to sue the government and whether the Biden administration “impermissibly” coerced social media companies to moderate third-party speech on their platforms.