Overview
- U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty approved a consent decree that for 10 years bars the Surgeon General’s office, the CDC, and CISA from threatening or directing Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, or YouTube to suppress protected speech.
- The order covers only the social media accounts of the named individual plaintiffs and the official accounts of Missouri and Louisiana when used in their government roles.
- Agencies can still share information with platforms or call a post wrong as long as they do not tie it to a threat of legal, regulatory, or economic punishment.
- The settlement resolves claims that Biden-era officials pushed platforms to curb posts about COVID-19, the Hunter Biden laptop, and the 2020 election after the Supreme Court declined to reach the merits by finding the plaintiffs lacked standing.
- The decree allows plaintiffs to seek attorneys’ fees with the government not disputing their prevailing-party status, and both Trump’s Justice Department and the plaintiffs’ lawyers cast the deal as a significant free-speech win.