A federal judge has ordered Dr. Anthony Fauci and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki to be deposed for a lawsuit that claims top officials in the Biden administration colluded with social media companies to censor debate about the COVID pandemic and The Post’s expose on the Hunter Biden laptop.

Fauci, Psaki and other other administration officials — including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy — must testify about their communications with the tech companies as part of the lawsuit brought in May by Republican attorneys general Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Jeff Landry of Louisiana.

The attorneys general sought the testimony of Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Biden, because of his high profile position and his public comments rejecting the theory that the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, as well as his claims about the efficacy of mask wearing.

“Plaintiffs urge that his comments on these important issues are relevant to the matter at hand and are further reasons why Dr. Fauci should be deposed,” US District Court Judge Terry Doughty wrote in his 28-page order issued on Friday.

“Plaintiffs assert that they should not be required to simply accept Dr. Fauci’s ‘self-serving blanket denials’ that were issued from someone other than himself at face value. The Court agrees,” Doughty, a judge in the Western District of Louisiana, wrote. 

The judge added that Fauci “no doubt” engaged in communications with “high-ranking social media officials” and so far has not had to give any statements under oath. 

Schmitt, who is running to represent Missouri in the US Senate, hailed Doughty’s decision. 

“After finding documentation of a collusive relationship between the Biden Administration and social media companies to censor free speech, we immediately filed a motion to get these officials under oath,” he said in a statement.

“It is high time we shine a light on this censorship enterprise and force these officials to come clean to the American people, and this ruling will allow us to do just that. We’ll keep pressing for the truth,” he said.

As for Psaki, Doughty said she admitted publicly in her position as press secretary that the White House had been in touch with social media platforms.

“The major platforms have a responsibility related to the health and safety of all Americans to stop amplifying untrustworthy content, disinformation, and misinformation, especially related to COVID-19, vaccinations, and elections,” Doughty wrote, quoting Psaki during a May 2021 White House press conference.

The judge also ordered a deposition from Elvis Chan, who manages the cyber branch of the FBI’s San Francisco field office, about his communications with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg about “censoring stories of the Hunter Biden Laptop.”

“Meta’s counsel identified Chan as the FBI agents [sic] who communicated with Facebook to suppress that story,” Doughy wrote. 

The Post first wrote about Hunter Biden’s suspicious overseas business dealings in October 2020, reports that were suppressed by Facebook and Twitter because of warnings from the FBI that the information may have been planted by the Russians to discredit Joe Biden before the election.