The Supreme Court appears ready to side with the Biden administration, after hearing a case Monday focused on the federal government's ability to push social media sites to take posts down.

At issue: communications between federal employees and tech companies regarding posts the government deems harmful or misleading related to public health, national security, and elections. The case—brought by Republican-led Missouri, Louisiana, and five social media users—alleges the government is censoring free speech by contacting platforms like Facebook and Twitter (X) over content they deem harmful or untrue.

FIRST AMENDMENT
The conservative 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that US officials coerced tech giants to filter posts regarding COVID-19 disinformation, election interference, and even Hunter Biden’s laptop in September. The lower court also ordered certain federal employees to stop communicating with social media companies, which the Supreme Court blocked in October until they issue a ruling.

• Persuasion vs. coercion: The Biden administration argued they spoke with social media outlets to share information and urge action.

  • Former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann says the American public benefits from open lines of communication.

    • For example, if the agency sees a terrorist group post the home address of a government employee they would notify the company that it “violates your policy,” but leaves it up to the platform to remove it.

• The plaintiffs say the Biden administration went too far and was “a bully” to social media companies.

  • Their evidence included a White House email to Facebook saying, "Are you guys f***ing serious?… I want an answer on what happened here and I want it today." The US government says the "admittedly crude email" concerned "a technical problem affecting the President's own Instagram account—it had nothing to do with moderating other users' content."

  • Still, the plaintiffs attorney argued that even though the final decisions were made by the tech companies, they “were feeling enormous pressure from the White House, and they were caving to that pressure. And the result of that pressure was censoring certain viewpoints.”

Social media companies are not part of the case, but say they are entitled to determine what should be allowed on their platforms. [The first amendment applies to the government, not private companies.]

WHAT THE JUSTICES SAY
Based on Justices’ questions yesterday, a majority appeared to reject the lower court’s ruling. Some justices even suggested there weren’t legal grounds for the case because the users couldn’t show a direct link between the administration’s communications and the posts being removed.

• Justice Elana Kagan, a liberal, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative, both suggested that communication between government officials and companies were routine occurrences and did not amount to government censorship or coercion that would violate the First Amendment.

BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE
Social media sites have been criticized by both political parties for their content moderation policies, and officials from both sides have communicated with social media giants.

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA CASES

• Justices ruled on another First Amendment case regarding social media on Friday saying the government officials cannot block users or delete comments on accounts where they post official statements, even if they are personal accounts.

• Another case involves laws passed in Florida and Texas that aim to prevent social media companies from removing posts over conservative political viewpoints, which the companies say violates their rights.

📱 GOOGLE’S GEMINI AI MAY SOON POWER IPHONE

You might remember Google apologizing a few weeks ago after its Gemini AI generated historically inaccurate images—like a black George Washington and Nazi-era German soldiers as people of color. Well, now they are in talks with Apple to have that technology—hopefully, with updates—driving new AI features on iPhones out “later this year.”

AI COMING TO APPLE
Apple has been working on its own AI models to debut with a new operating system—but the conversations with partners indicate that might not be ready soon.

• Google isn’t the only company in talks with Apple about licensing its AI features. Apple is also reportedly talking to Microsoft-backed OpenAI, which operates ChatGPT.

• Gemini or ChatGPT’s capabilities to create images and generate text from short prompts would be integrated into iPhones.

  • Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., and Apple already have a multi-billion dollar partnership that makes Google the default search engine on the Safari web browser on Apple devices.

FEDS MIGHT NOT BE INTO IT
Bloomberg reports that an AI deal is unlikely to be announced until June. The US Department of Justice already has an antitrust lawsuit against Google and Apple’s search engine partnership. European regulators are requiring Apple to make it easier for users to change their default search engine away from Google. If the trillion dollar tech giants band together again, there are concerns of regulatory push-back.

📌 UNDERSTANDING TIKTOK’S ROLE IN AMERICAN SOCIETY IN GRAPHS

As congress debates a potential TikTok ban, there is a new analysis from the Wall Street Journal on how the app has embedded itself in American society. It’s owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has voiced opposition to its sale.

TIME SUCK
TikTok users spend over 90 minutes a day on the platform on average, an hour more than Snapchat, and about 45 minutes more than Facebook and Instagram. Why? The algorithm, which very effectively suggests posts tailored to users’ interests.

EXTREMELY POPULAR
For the last four years, TikTok has stood tall as the most downloaded social media app in the US. And advertisers see that—TikTok made $6.6 billion is US ad sales in 2023. It has grown 1/3 over 2022, though still only makes up about 2% of the total ad market.

• Despite growing market share, the app has had less user engagement in the past year.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 US Supreme Court's Alito extends pause on Texas immigration law (CBS NEWS)

📌 Trump faces 'insurmountable difficulties' in securing $464M bond in civil fraud case (ABC NEWS)

📌 Trump claims Jews who vote against him “hate” their religion and Israel (MO NEWS)

📌 Biden campaign releases ad featuring Trump "bloodbath" comments (AXIOS)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Biden speaks with Netanyahu amid escalating tensions in U.S.-Israel, warns against Rafah invasion (NBC NEWS)

📌 Gambia could become the first country to reverse a ban on female genital cutting (AP)

📌 At least a dozen dead as gang violence spills into wealthy areas of Haiti capital (GUARDIAN)

📌 In Havana syndrome patients, NIH scientists find no physical trace of harm (NPR)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Online orders begin for first over-the-counter birth control pill in the US (CNN)

📌 EPA to ban last form of asbestos used in US (REUTERS)

📌 Saudi oil exec: World should abandon “fantasy” of phasing out oil (CNBC)

📌 Fabrics retailer Joann files for bankruptcy (CNN)

📌 Sports Illustrated to avert shutdown as it gets a fresh start under new publisher (NBC NEWS)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Kate Middleton seen on video for first time on shopping trip with Prince William amid surgery recovery (PEOPLE) [Andy Cohen among those not convinced]

📌 Banksy unveils new street art in London neighborhood (DAILY MAIL)

📌 March Madness 2024: How to watch every game of the men’s and women’s NCAA tournament (YAHOO)

📌 Richard Simmons clarifies that he's not dying after cryptic social media post (NBC NEWS)

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🗓 ON THIS DAY: MARCH 19

• 1977: The series finale of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” aired on CBS-TV after a seven-season run.

• 1995: Michael Jordan returned to the NBA with the Chicago Bulls after a 21-month hiatus to play minor league baseball.

  • He announced his return with a fax that simply read, “I’m back.”

• 2003: President George W. Bush launched the Iraq War when he ordered air strikes on Baghdad. The goal was to oust dictator Saddam Hussein, whom American officials wrongly thought was producing weapons of mass destruction. 2,500 US troops remain in Iraq.

• 2010: Justin Bieber released his debut album My World 2.0, which included hit “Baby,” at age 16.