Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-411_3dq3.pdf
Page Number: 40.0

6 

MURTHY v. MISSOURI 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

skillfully  exploited  Facebook’s  vulnerability.  When  Face-
book did not heed their requests as quickly or as fully as the 
officials wanted, the platform was publicly accused of “kill-
ing people” and subtly threatened with retaliation. 

Not  surprisingly  these  efforts  bore  fruit.    Facebook 
adopted  new  rules  that  better  conformed  to  the  officials’ 
wishes, and many users who expressed disapproved views
about  the  pandemic  or  COVID–19  vaccines  were  “deplat-
formed” or otherwise injured. 

I 
A 
I begin by recounting the White House-led campaign to
coerce  Facebook.  The  story  starts  in  early  2021,  when
White House officials began communicating with Facebook 
about the spread of misinformation about COVID–19 on its
platform.  Their emails started as questions, e.g., “Can you 
also give us a sense of misinformation that might be falling 
outside  of  your  removal  polices?”  10  Record  3397.  But 
when the White House did not get the results it wanted, its 
questions  quickly  turned  to  virtual  demands.    And  some-
times,  those  statements  were  paired  with  explicit  refer-
ences to potential consequences.

We  may  begin  this  account  with  an  exchange  that  oc-
curred in March 2021, when the Washington Post reported 
that  Facebook  was  conducting  a  study  that  examined 
whether posts on the platform questioning COVID–19’s se-
verity or the vaccines’ efficacy dissuaded some Americans 
from  being  vaccinated.6   The  study  noted  that  Facebook’s
rules permitted some of this content to circulate.  Rob Fla-
herty,  the  White  House  Director  of  Digital  Strategy,
promptly emailed Facebook about the report.  The subject 

—————— 

6 E.  Dwoskin,  Massive  Facebook  Study  on  Users’  Doubt  in  Vaccines 
Finds a Small Group Appears To Play a Big Role in Pushing the Skepti-
cism,  Washington  Post  (Mar.  14,  2021),  https://www.washingtonpost.
com/technology/2021/03/14/facebook-vaccine-hesitancy-qanon.