Plaintiffs to Seek Depositions of Top Biden Administration Officials in Big Tech Censorship Case
Plaintiffs in a case charging that the Biden administration was deeply involved in censoring users across Big Tech platforms are preparing to ask a judge to allow them to depose top government officials.
The attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana said Oct. 10 they will file a motion soon asking U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointee overseeing the case, for the depositions.
Plaintiffs have provided an initial list of people they want to depose to the Department of Justice, which is representing the government in the case. They said the motion will ask Doughty to greenlight depositions “of a number of key defendants,” according to a press release from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office.
A spokesman for the Republican official, who brought the case with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, another Republican, declined to provide more details.
The most well-known defendants are President Joe Biden, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, presidential adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The case was filed earlier this year and discovery produced after Doughty rejected the administration’s attempt to get it dismissed bolstered the allegations of Big Tech–government collusion, including a series of exchanges between White House and Facebook officials concerning cracking down on users who posted alleged misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
While just 20 officials or agencies were named as defendants in an earlier version of the case, an updated complaint filed Friday named 47 more, including the FBI, the Food and Drug Administration, and Rob Flaherty, a White House deputy assistant.
Messages showed Flaherty pressuring Facebook workers to step up content moderation, leading to meetings between Facebook and the White House.
“We remain concerned about mis -and -disinformation [sic] on feed and in groups, and the wide reach of hesitancy-inducing
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