Last Wednesday witnessed the Biden Administration secure a technical yet sizable victory ahead of this year's elections. In a significant ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Administration along with federal bodies, including the pivotal FBI, to continue their guidance to social media platforms to eradicate content flagged as misinformation. This decision likewise enables the Department of Homeland Security to remain vigilant and identify social media content potentially manufactured by foreign agents to provoke chaos during this presidential race.

The verdict is of immediate consequence. During the proceedings the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, refrained from tackling the substantial First Amendment controversies inherent in the case. Instead, the court concluded that both, the state and social media consumers who opposed the Administration, did not possess the lawful right to institute a lawsuit. It was articulated that to initiate such a legal course, the plaintiffs would have had to demonstrate substantial vulnerability to an imminent injury, directly traceable to a governmental defendant, which could be mitigated by the injunction they were demanding.

Despite this, no plaintiff could sufficiently meet this requirement for an injunctive relief. Media outlets revealed that Biden's administration has been steadfastly channeling its efforts towards encouraging leading social media platforms to expunge posts that disseminate misinformation on various critical topics. These include, but are not limited to, vaccination campaigns, reports around the COVID-19 pandemic, and startling misinformation about the 2020 election.

These posts, contends the Government, were in violation of the platforms' self-defined policies. There were severe criticisms raised by Republican officials hailing from Missouri and Louisiana, in addition to five social media users; they all brought forth litigation in 2022. These critics were unwavering in their belief that the White House had extended its reach beyond mere persuasion, compelling the tech leviathans to suppress certain deceptive elements.