Two landmark lawsuits brought against the Biden administration alleging that it leaned on and strong-armed social media companies to censor free speech were consolidated in the United States District Court for the Western District Court of Louisiana on July 26.
Democratic presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr. is the plaintiff in one of the actions, Kennedy v. Biden. The states of Louisiana and Missouri are the plaintiffs in the other suit, Missouri v. Biden.
Both suits allege that the White House and federal agencies worked together and bullied the powerhouse social media companies, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and YouTube, to suppress and block information of which the government disapproved.
The complaints claim that major and fundamental components of the information that was repressed involved statistics, opinion, and commentary on the COVID-19 virus and the efficacy of vaccines for the virus, and the side effects the vaccines can cause, and also data pertaining to climate change.
“Huge victory as Kennedy v. Biden is consolidated with Missouri v. Biden,” Mr. Kennedy wrote on Twitter. “My case is a class action suit on behalf of individuals censored by the White House, who were harmed and whose rights were infringed by not hearing our messages.
“As Frederick Douglass pointed out, every act of censorship has two classes of victims; the speakers and the listeners!”
Suing the Biden Administration Over Free Speech and Censorship
Mr. Kennedy, whose poll numbers have risen, has been an outspoken critic of and has prominently countered and questioned the narrative on COVID-19 that the Biden administration and Dr. Anthony Fauci have presented.
Mr. Kennedy, a nonprofit group he founded, and a private citizen in Louisiana are the plaintiffs in the case. The complaint, filed in the Western District Court, contends that President Biden and others in his administration violated the First Amendment by coercing and pressuring social media companies to block information of which they disapproved.
By Ross Muscato
