Court skeptical of Biden admin's bid to reverse curbs on social media contacts

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at Arcosa, a wind tower manufacturing facility in Belen, New Mexico, U.S. August 9, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday appeared skeptical of the Biden administration's bid to reverse a court order sharply limiting its ability to ask social media companies to remove content that it considers to be misinformation.

Daniel Tenny, a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, told a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans that U.S. officials never forced social media companies to remove posts about COVID-19, the 2020 election and other topics, as Louisiana and Missouri claimed in a lawsuit. Instead, he said, the government had informed the companies of certain posts that spread harmful misinformation.