WASHINGTON — A majority of justices on the US Supreme Court appeared sceptical on Monday of efforts to impose restrictions on federal government efforts to curb misinformation online.
The case stems from a lawsuit brought by the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri, who allege that government officials went too far in their bid to get platforms to combat vaccine and election misinformation, violating the First Amendment free speech rights of users. Representing the Justice Department in the Supreme Court on Monday, Principal Deputy Solicitor General Brian Fletcher said there is a"fundamental distinction between persuasion and coercion".
Mr Fletcher said interactions between health officials and social media platforms at the heart of the case needed to be viewed in light of"an effort to get Americans vaccinated during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic". Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal, pushed back, saying"My biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways."
The lower court order applied to the White House and a slew of agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Department, the Justice Department as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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