Trump administration settles social media censorship case

The Justice Department has settled a lawsuit over allegations that the Biden administration pressured social media companies to remove or suppress speech.

The settlement, filed in a Louisiana federal court, will bar the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Surgeon General’s Office from engaging in such pressure on social media firms for 10 years. 

The case settlement resolves a lawsuit first filed in 2022 by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana and other private plaintiffs. 

The suit alleged the federal government violated the First Amendment by “coercing” or “significantly encouraging” social media companies to delete certain content from their platforms. The content centered around conservative-leaning speech, including the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated health precautions, along with the 2020 presidential election. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi touted the settlement on Wednesday, calling it part of the DOJ’s “key steps” in “undoing” the Biden Administration’s “abuses of the First Amendment, especially against conservative media.” 

The case reached the Supreme Court, which rejected challenges to Biden administration officials in 2024. The 6-3 decision did not address the First Amendment issue presented in the case, only ruling the two Republican attorneys general and private parties did not have legal standing to bring it. 

When President Trump returned to office last year, he issued an executive order on his first day back in the White House that set out to  “restore freedom of speech” and end “federal censorship.” The DOJ said this week’s settlement is part of this mission. 

“Over the last four years, the previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms,” the Jan. 2025 order stated.

When reached for comment Wednesday,  White House spokesperson Kush Desai told The Hill that the Trump administration is “committed to ensuring Americans’ First Amendment rights are never impinged again.” 

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Miss.), who brought the case against the government as Missouri attorney general, called the settlement a “massive win” for the First Amendment.

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