This week, on the day we annually celebrate our freedom, U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty ruled that the government must restrict its contact with social media to protect free speech rights.
Doughty cited in his ruling several examples where Biden administration officials met with various media platform executives to consider what would constitute a legal liability for misinformation passed through their social media accounts.
In Doughty’s opinion, the Biden administration posed a threat to free speech by seeking social media restrictions or bans on false claims and dangerous lies suggesting violence.
Doughty, a Republican Trump appointee, echoed a relatively new (Since Biden’s election) claim that the government has been unduly influencing free speech rights. In this case, those rights seem to be an unlimited right to lie to the general public on social media with impunity.
Republicans take offense when banned from social media while advancing lies and misinformation. Their umbrage is on the perception that they, Republicans, are being singled out in being exiled for bad behavior online.
They have many examples of citing the claim of unfair restrictions on free speech. Alex Jones, a well-known conservative podcaster, recently lost a civil case that included a $46M fine for his free speech rights. Jones has advanced that the Sandy Hook killings were staged with actors, and the parents of the dead children were lying.
Jones has also used his free speech rights to...
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