Overview
- The parties filed the consent decree in federal court in Louisiana on Tuesday, seeking court approval to end Missouri v. Biden with a 10-year order.
- The decree would prohibit the Surgeon General’s office, the CDC, and CISA from threatening legal, regulatory, or economic punishment to push Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, or LinkedIn to remove or suppress lawful speech, and it would forbid officials from directing or vetoing platform moderation decisions.
- The order is narrow in scope, covering only the plaintiffs’ accounts and content, including posts by Missouri and Louisiana officials acting in their official roles on the five named platforms.
- The agreement would still allow federal officials to share information with platforms or publicly say posts are wrong, so long as those statements are not coupled with threats.
- The case reached the Supreme Court in 2024 on a standing dispute and returned to district court, where this deal follows a 2025 executive order that criticized past government contacts with platforms.