The New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction against the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), finding it likely violated the First Amendment by influencing social media platforms’ content moderation practices on topics such as COVID-19 and the 2020 U.S. elections.
The injunction, part of an ongoing First Amendment lawsuit, Missouri et al. v. Biden et al., bars CISA from interacting with social media platforms. It broadens an injunction issued last month, also by the 5th Circuit, against White House officials, the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI.
The court found those agencies and officials “likely coerced or significantly encouraged social media platforms to moderate content, rendering those decisions state actions.”
