Attorney General William Tong issued a statement regarding the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Murthy v. Missouri, which preserves the government's ability to collaborate with social media companies to address disinformation and dangerous content.
"This decision rightly preserves the government’s ability to work with social media companies to address the spread of disinformation and dangerous content online. This is all-hands-on-deck kind of work. We need governments and platforms working closely together to root out violent content, cyberbullying, child predators, and deeply damaging disinformation regarding public health, our democracy, and more," said Attorney General Tong.
Missouri, Louisiana, and several individuals had claimed federal officials pressured social media companies into moderating disinformation about COVID-19 and other topics of vital public health and civic interest. The plaintiffs argued that this communication crossed into coercion, violating their First Amendment rights. Last summer, a federal district court agreed with the plaintiffs and issued a preliminary injunction barring communications between many federal government officials and social media companies about content-moderation decisions. The Fifth Circuit largely affirmed this decision. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the plaintiffs had not been harmed directly and lacked standing to sue.
Connecticut joined other states in an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to allow information exchange between the government and social media companies -- including communication to protect children from online predators and cyberbullying, as well as flagging scams, violent images, and public health disinformation.
Link to Attorney General Tong amicus brief.