US Supreme Court extends pause on order curbing Biden social media contacts

FILE PHOTO: People visit the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S., August 31, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Wurm/File Photo

(Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday extended a temporary block on an order restricting the ability of President Joe Biden's administration to encourage social media companies to remove content it deemed misinformation about COVID-19 and other matters of public concern.

The decision to keep the matter on hold until Wednesday gives the court more time to consider the administration's request to block an injunction issued by a lower court that had concluded that federal officials likely had violated the free speech protections of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment by coercing social media platforms into censoring certain posts.