Social Media (US Market)

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2024: US Supreme Court allows White House to censor social media

At the end of June 2024, the US Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration and allowed federal agencies to freely discuss with the owners of social networks the issue of removing posts with disinformation, as well as posts about controversial issues.

In July 2023, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit that later became known as the "Murty v. Missouri case." Schmitt found that the Biden administration violates the rights of citizens to freedom of speech stipulated in the First Amendment when it tries to limit the statements of conservative opponents on social networks. The justices, by a vote of 6-3, overturned lower court rulings that had supported the initiative.

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Yahoo News

The new Supreme Court ruling gives the White House a legal rationale for interfering in online disputes in a presidential election year. While government agencies are supposed to have partly moderated social media, "the facts indicate that social media platforms had independent incentives for content moderation and often made their own judgment," the court said.

For about six months, federal agencies have not been able to influence social media owners in moderating discussions about election security, public health care and other topics where misinformation is often at risk. Agencies such as FBI cyber security the Agency and Infrastructure Security, who feared accusations of forced censorship and possible legal problems, were in the spotlight. However, after the first Supreme Court hearings, they resumed negotiations with social platforms. Several Supreme Court justices disagreed with the decision, saying that "government censorship of private speech is the exact opposite of the democratic form of our government."^[1]

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