The Department of Justice announced on May 13 that it has settled a lawsuit alleging the Biden administration pressured Twitter to silence an American citizen over his COVID vaccine commentary. The case, Berenson v. Biden, No. 25-2709, resolves federal claims while preserving allegations against other defendants.
Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter turned independent journalist, alleged that Biden-era officials collaborated with Pfizer-linked figures to have him deplatformed from Twitter in 2021. The DOJ settlement pays Berenson $150,000 and avoids further litigation in the Second Circuit, where his appeal was pending.
The Justice Department framed the settlement within President Donald Trump’s executive order titled Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship. That order stated the previous administration trampled free speech rights by pressuring third parties—including social media companies—to moderate, deplatform, or suppress speech the government did not approve.
Three senior DOJ officials were quoted in the announcement: Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward described prior administration conduct as viewpoint discrimination; Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate called government coercion of social media companies unlawful under constitutional principles; and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon labeled the settlement a milestone for free speech advocacy.
The settlement does not constitute a court ruling on merits or admit liability by federal defendants. It acknowledges the seriousness of the allegations to resolve the federal portion of the case while preserving Berenson’s claims against remaining defendants, including Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla and Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb, who also served as President Trump’s first-term FDA commissioner.
Berenson described the $150,000 payment as useful for continuing his appeal rather than a life-changing sum. Internal communications he obtained from Twitter during prior legal efforts formed critical evidence in his lawsuit against federal officials and Pfizer-linked figures. His claims against Bourla and Gottlief center on their alleged roles in pressuring Twitter to remove him, and those claims remain unresolved.
The DOJ’s public acknowledgment that the Biden administration exerted influence over social media companies to suppress speech it disfavored represents a significant stance on First Amendment principles. The federal dispute is closed, but questions raised by this case about government censorship practices persist.