Supreme Court to hear free speech case over government pressure on social media sites to remove content

Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday will be weighing whether the government crossed a constitutional line into censorship of lawful speech when it pressured social media platforms to take down content it deemed misleading.

The case poses a significant test of the First Amendment's free speech protections in the digital age and stems from the Biden administration's efforts to pressure social media platforms to remove content that it said spread falsehoods about the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. 

The Supreme Court is set to consider at what point the federal government's attempts to protect against misinformation on social media cross into censorship of speech that is constitutionally protected.