Case 3:22-cv-01213-TAD-KDM Document 294 Filed 07/04/23 Page 1 of 7 PageID #: 26947

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

STATE OF MISSOURI, ET AL. CASE NO. 3:22-CV-01213

VERSUS JUDGE TERRY A. DOUGHTY

JOSEPH R BIDEN JR., ET AL. MAG. JUDGE KAYLA D. MCCLUSKY

JUDGMENT

For the reasons set forth in the Memorandum Ruling on the Request for Preliminary

Injunction,

IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that Plaintiffs’ Motion for

Preliminary Injunction [Doc. No. 10] is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that: the DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN

SERVICES (“HHS”) and THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND

INFECTIOUS DISEASES (“NIAID”), and specifically the following employees of the HHS and

NIAID: XAVIER BECERRA,1 Secretary of HHS; DR. HUGH AUCHINCLOSS, Director of

NIAID; YOLANDA BYRD, HHS Digital Engagement Team; CHRISTY CHOI, HHS Office of

Communications; ASHLEY MORSE, HHS Director of Digital Engagement; JOSHUA PECK,

HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary, Deputy Digital Director of HHS successor (formerly JANELL

MUHAMMED); along with their secretaries, directors, administrators and employees;

SURGEON GENERAL VIVEK H. MURTHY, KATHARINE DEALY, Chief Engagement

Officer for the Surgeon General, along with her secretaries, directors, administrators, and

employees; the CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (“CDC”), and

specifically the following employees: CAROL Y. CRAWFORD, Chief of the Digital Media

1
All individuals named in this Judgment are being sued in their official capacities.

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Branch of the CDC Division of Public Affairs; JAY DEMPSEY, Social-media Team Leader,

Digital Media Branch, CDC Division of Public Affairs; KATE GALATAS, CDC Deputy

Communications Director; UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU (“Census Bureau”), and

specifically the following employees: JENNIFER SHOPKORN, Census Bureau Senior Advisor

for Communications, Division Chief for the Communications Directorate, and Deputy Director of

the Census Bureau Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, along with their

secretaries, directors, administrators and employees; the FEDERAL BUREAU OF

INVESTIGATION (“FBI”), and specifically the following employees: LAURA DEHMLOW,

Section Chief, FBI Foreign Influence Task Force; ELVIS M. CHAN, Supervisory Special Agent

of Squad CY-1 in the FBI San Francisco Division; THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT

OF JUSTICE, along with their secretary, director, administrators, and employees; the following

members of the Executive Office of the President of the United States: White House Press

Secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, Counsel to the President; STUART F. DELERY, White

House Partnerships Manager; AISHA SHAH, Special Assistant to the President; SARAH

BERAN, MINA HSIANG, Administrator of the United States Digital Service within the Office

of Management and Budget; ALI ZAIDI, White House National Climate Advisor; White House

Senior COVID-19 Advisor successor (formerly ANDREW SLAVITT); Deputy Assistant to the

President and Director of Digital Strategy successor (formerly ROB FLAHERTY); DORI

SALCIDO, White House COVID-19 Director of Strategic Communications and Engagement;

White House Digital Director for the COVID-19 Response Team successor (formerly CLARKE

HUMPHREY); Deputy Director of Strategic Communications and Engagement of the White

House COVID-19 Response Team successor (formerly BENJAMIN WAKANA); Deputy

Director for Strategic Communications and External Engagement for the White House COVID-

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19 Response Team successor (formerly SUBHAN CHEEMA); White House COVID-19 Supply

Coordinator successor (formerly TIMOTHY W. MANNING); Chief Medical Advisor to the

President, DR. HUGH AUCHINCLOSS, along with their directors, administrators and

employees; the CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY

(“CISA”), and specifically the following employees: JEN EASTERLY, Director of CISA; KIM

WYMAN, Senior Cybersecurity Advisor and Senior Election Security Leader; LAUREN

PROTENTIS; GEOFFREY HALE; ALLISON SNELL; BRIAN SCULLY, Officials of CISA;

the UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (“DHS”), and

specifically the following employees: ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, Secretary of DHS;

ROBERT SILVERS, Under-Secretary of the Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans; SAMANTHA

VINOGRAD, Senior Counselor for National Security in the Official of the Secretary for DHS,

along with their secretary, directors, administrators, and employees; the UNITED STATES

DEPARTMENT OF STATE (“State Department”), and specifically the following employees:

LEAH BRAY, Acting Coordinator of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center

(“GEC”); ALEX FRISBIE, State Department Senior Technical Advisor and member of the

Technology Engagement Team at the GEC; DANIEL KIMMAGE, Acting Coordinator of the

GEC, along with their secretary, directors, administrators, and employees ARE HEREBY

ENJOINED AND RESTRAINED from taking the following actions as to social-media

companies:2

2
“Social-media companies” include Facebook/Meta, Twitter, YouTube/Google, WhatsApp, Instagram, WeChat,
TikTok, Sina Weibo, QQ, Telegram, Snapchat, Kuaishou, Qzone, Pinterest, Reddit, LinkedIn, Quora, Discord,
Twitch, Tumblr, Mastodon, and like companies.

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(1) meeting with social-media companies for the purpose of urging, encouraging,

pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content

containing protected free speech posted on social-media platforms;3

(2) specifically flagging content or posts on social-media platforms and/or forwarding

such to social-media companies urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner for

removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech;

(3) urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner social-media

companies to change their guidelines for removing, deleting, suppressing, or reducing content

containing protected free speech;

(4) emailing, calling, sending letters, texting, or engaging in any communication of any

kind with social-media companies urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner for

removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech;

(5) collaborating, coordinating, partnering, switchboarding, and/or jointly working

with the Election Integrity Partnership, the Virality Project, the Stanford Internet Observatory, or

any like project or group for the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any

manner removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content posted with social-media

companies containing protected free speech;

(6) threatening, pressuring, or coercing social-media companies in any manner to

remove, delete, suppress, or reduce posted content of postings containing protected free speech;

3
“Protected free speech” means speech that is protected by the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution in accordance with jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal
and District Courts.

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(7) taking any action such as urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any

manner social-media companies to remove, delete, suppress, or reduce posted content protected

by the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution;

(8) following up with social-media companies to determine whether the social-media

companies removed, deleted, suppressed, or reduced previous social-media postings containing

protected free speech;

(9) requesting content reports from social-media companies detailing actions taken to

remove, delete, suppress, or reduce content containing protected free speech; and

(10) notifying social-media companies to Be on The Lookout (“BOLO”) for postings

containing protected free speech.

This Preliminary Injunction precludes said named Defendants, their agents, officers, employees,

contractors, and all acting in concert with them from the aforementioned conduct. This Preliminary

Injunction also precludes said named Defendants, their agents, officers, employees, and

contractors from acting in concert with others who are engaged in said conduct.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the following actions are NOT prohibited by this

Preliminary Injunction:

(1) informing social-media companies of postings involving criminal activity or

criminal conspiracies;

(2) contacting and/or notifying social-media companies of national security threats,

extortion, or other threats posted on its platform;

(3) contacting and/or notifying social-media companies about criminal efforts to

suppress voting, to provide illegal campaign contributions, of cyber-attacks against election

infrastructure, or foreign attempts to influence elections;

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(4) informing social-media companies of threats that threaten the public safety or

security of the United States;

(5) exercising permissible public government speech promoting government policies

or views on matters of public concern;

(6) informing social-media companies of postings intending to mislead voters about

voting requirements and procedures;

(7) informing or communicating with social-media companies in an effort to detect,

prevent, or mitigate malicious cyber activity;

(8) communicating with social-media companies about deleting, removing,

suppressing, or reducing posts on social-media platforms that are not protected free speech by the

Free Speech Clause in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that no security is required to be posted by Plaintiffs under

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this Preliminary Injunction Order shall remain in effect

pending the final resolution of this case or until further orders issue from this Court, the United

States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, or the Supreme Court of the United States.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERD that the Motion for Preliminary Injunction [Doc. No. 10] is

DENIED as to the following Defendants: U.S. Food and Drug Administration; U. S. Department

of Treasury; U.S. Election Assistance Commission; U. S. Department of Commerce and

employees Erica Jefferson, Michael Murray, Wally Adeyemo, Steven Frid, Brad Kimberly, and

Kristen Muthig; and Disinformation Governance Board (“DGB”) and its Director Nina Jankowicz.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that no evidentiary hearing is required at this time.

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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ request for certification of this proceeding

as a class action pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. Article 23 (b)(2) is DENIED.

THUS, DONE AND SIGNED IN MONROE, LOUISIANA, this 4th day of July 2023.

___________________________________
TERRY A. DOUGHTY
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE