Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship

January 20, 2025

Executive order directing agencies to end content moderation coordination with social media platforms, characterizing prior government communications about misinformation as censorship. The order raised complex First Amendment questions from both directions: government jawboning of private platforms may itself violate the First Amendment, but so may government directives that chill agency speech. The order had support from free speech advocates across the political spectrum concerned about government pressure on platforms, though critics argued it conflated legitimate public health communication with censorship.