Security News > 2023 > October > CISA barred from coordinating with social media sites to police misinformation

The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has modified a ruling from last month to add the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to a list of US government entities prohibited from working with social media firms to curtail the spread of misinformation.

In other words, stopping CISA from asking social media sites to restrict the reach of misinformation would interrupt the bulk of the Biden administration's moderation requests.

The 5th Circuit further concluded that CISA acted as a "Switchboard" for funneling moderation requests to social media sites that were flagged by state and local officials, but didn't stop at requesting censorship of offending posts.

CISA told The Register that it wouldn't comment on ongoing litigation, but did provide a statement from Executive Director Brandon Wales in which he alleges CISA doesn't censor speech or facilitate censorship, and that any claims to that end are false.

This ultimately led the Biden administration to seek the Supreme Court's help in getting the original order enjoining the administration from communication with social media sites - issued by a Missouri court on July 4 of this year - held while it appealed the 5th Circuit's September decision.

Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito issued an order staying the lower court injunction on September 14.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/10/04/cisa_barred_from_coordinating_with/