WASHINGTON A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday blocked key Biden administration agencies and officials from meeting and communicating with social media companies, the Washington Posted reported.

The injunction came in response to a lawsuit brought by Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, who allege that government officials went too far in their efforts to encourage social media companies to address posts that they worried could contribute to vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic or upend elections, the newspaper said.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell)