Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-411_3dq3.pdf
Page Number: 22.0

Cite as:  603 U. S. ____ (2024) 

17 

Opinion of the Court 

unclear  why  Jim  Hoft  would  have  standing  to  sue  for  his 
brother’s injury.

Hoft claims that his content appears on a CISA document 
tracking posts that various entities had flagged for the plat-
forms  as  misinformation.    The  spreadsheet  shows  that  a 
private  entity,  the  Election  Integrity  Partnership—not 
CISA—alerted  Twitter  to  an  unidentified  article  from  the 
Gateway  Pundit.    And  the  spreadsheet  does  not  reveal 
whether  Twitter  removed  or  otherwise  suppressed  that 
post.  This  evidence  does  not  support  the  conclusion  that
Hoft’s past injuries are likely traceable to the FBI or CISA. 
Jill  Hines.    Of  all  the  plaintiffs,  Hines  makes  the  best 
showing  of  a  connection  between  her  social-media  re-
strictions and communications between the relevant plat-
form  (Facebook)  and  specific  defendants  (CDC  and  the
White House).  That said, most of the lines she draws are 
tenuous, particularly given her burden of proof at the pre-
liminary injunction stage—recall that she must show that 
her restrictions are likely traceable to the White House and 
the CDC. 

A  healthcare  activist,  Hines  codirects  “Health  Freedom 
Louisiana,”  a  group  that  advocated  against  COVID–19
mask and vaccine mandates.  In October 2020—before the 
start of communications with the White House and the bulk 
of  communications  with  the  CDC—Facebook  began  to  re-
duce  the  reach  of  Hines’  and  Health  Freedom’s  pages.
Hines  tries  to  connect  Facebook’s  subsequent  actions
against her to both the White House officials and the CDC. 
First,  Facebook  “deplatformed”  (i.e.,  deleted)  one  of
Health Freedom’s groups in July 2021.  The last post in the
group  asked  members  to  contact  state  legislators  about 
health freedom legislation.  Three months earlier, a White 
House  official  sent  Facebook  several  “suggestions”  that 
were “circulating around the building and informing think-
ing,” including that the platform should “end group recom-