Fourth Circuit Rejects "Jawboning" Suit, Siding with White House on Social Media Contacts

Fourth Circuit Rejects "Jawboning" Suit, Siding with White House on Social Media Contacts

A federal appeals court has thrown out a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of coercing social media companies into censoring conservative speech — a ruling that hands the government a major win in the long-running battle over who controls online discourse.

The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs — a group of social media users led by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana — lacked standing to sue over the government's communications with platforms like Facebook and Twitter. The court found the plaintiffs failed to show they were directly harmed by the officials' contacts with the companies, even as it acknowledged the communications were at times "persistent and forceful."

The dispute grew out of a 2022 lawsuit alleging that federal officials, including those at the White House and the CDC, pressured platforms to remove content related to COVID-19 and election misinformation. A federal district judge in Louisiana initially issued a sweeping injunction restricting such contacts, but the Fifth Circuit narrowed it, and the Supreme Court later vacated that ruling on standing grounds. The case was remanded, and the Fourth Circuit's decision effectively ends the plaintiffs' path forward in that venue.

The ruling lands as the relationship between the federal government and tech platforms remains a live political flashpoint, with lawmakers on both sides pressing for new rules on content moderation and government outreach.

What to watch: whether the plaintiffs petition the Supreme Court for review, and whether Congress takes up legislative proposals to codify limits on executive branch communications with social media companies.

Primary sources: Fourth Circuit opinions · Supreme Court opinions