A US federal judge has imposed restrictions on the Biden administration's correspondence with social media companies that is meant to control their content.
On Tuesday, judge Terry Doughty issued a ruling of 155 pages, blocking White House officers and some government bodies from interacting with companies regarding "material embracing safeguarded free expression".
This is success for the Republicans who have claimed that administrators were engaging in censorship.
Democrats asserted that the platforms have not taken action to tackle misinformation.
This case stirred much interest in the American judicial system due to its implications concerning the government's capacity to censor material deemed untrue or damaging.
The White House declared that the US Department of Justice was analyzing the decision and figuring out its following actions.
The White House commented in a statement that they are steadfast in their belief that social media platforms have a duty to be mindful of the repercussions their networks have on the American populace.
The statement further emphasized that platforms should possess the autonomy to decide the information they want to display.
Following a legal challenge lodged by the Republican attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, a decision has been made that US officials had been actively encouraging social media platforms to take action against posts relating to Covid-19 policies and election security.
Judge Doughty, being an appointee of former US President Donald Trump, voiced that substantial evidence had been submitted by the plaintiffs in corroboration of their claims.
Mr Doughty commented in his judgement that the evidence presented so far paints a picture of an almost frighteningly oppressive situation.
He said: "Throughout this challenging Covid-19 period, where there is much apprehension and confusion, the United States Government has appeared to take on a role like the 'Ministry of Truth' in George Orwell's novel."
The decision restricted the ability of government organizations such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI to communicate.
It also placed limitations on US personnel such as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Jen Easterly, who is the head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Nevertheless, exceptions were made for notifying businesses of threats to national security and criminal activity.
Judge Doughty remarked on certain electronic mail communications between White House personnel and the social networking institutions.
In April 2021, Rob Flaherty, the ex-White House director of digital strategy, sent a message to Google personnel.
In the email, Mr Flaherty declared that YouTube was steering people to become vaccine-hesitant through its video-sharing platform.
He stated that this issue was of utmost importance, with the highest personnel in the White House being involved.
The BBC did not receive an immediate response from Google to their request for comment.
Twitter, owned by multi-billionaire Elon Musk, declined to comment when asked for a statement.
Meta, the proprietor of both Facebook and Instagram, declined to issue any remarks regarding the ruling.
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