According to CNET, Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he’s filed lawsuits accusing Google, Facebook, Twitter, and their CEOs of First Amendment violations for alleged censorship.
The three lawsuits, which specifically name Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, come after Trump was banned from major social media platforms earlier this year. Facebook, Twitter, and Google-owned YouTube booted Trump in the wake of the deadly US Capitol riot on Jan. 6, citing concerns that he would incite more violence.
Let me remind you that the US capitol was stormed because of fire-fueled tweets from Trump claiming the election was “stolen”.
Lawsuits that allege censorship and that argue social media companies violate the First Amendment when they remove posts or ban users have repeatedly been rejected by courts across the country. The First Amendment applies to the government, not to private companies like social media sites.
Trump has said that he is not looking to settle on this lawsuit and will pursue it. He demanded the end of ‘shadow-banning,’ and ‘blacklisting’. ‘In addition, we are asking the court to impose punitive damages on these social media giants,’ he said. ‘We’re going to hold big tech very accountable.’ (enters eye-rolling emoji here)
Trump will serve as the lead plaintiff in the suit, claiming he has been wrongfully censored, he added.
His lawyers say they will argue that Congress has frequently pressured Big Tech to take action on conservatives, making them ‘agents of government’ and therefore subject to the First Amendment.
The legal moves are backed by the America First Policy Institute, a non-profit that includes several former senior administration officials.
Trump accused the mainstream media and politicians of cozying up to big tech.
‘There is no better evidence that big tech is out of control than the fact that they banned the sitting President of the United States earlier this year, a ban that continues to this day,’ he said.
He contrasted his position with hate speech coming from Iran and Palestinian hardliners.
‘Hamas, as I said, the greatest killers in the world, have a site,’ he said, saying the tweet that got him banned was innocuous.
Is this another ploy for Trump to try to get his name back out there? Does he feel like he has lost his followers since he can’t tweet to them? Guess we will see what happens in the following weeks.
Sources: https://www.cnet.com/news/trump-announces-lawsuit-against-google-facebook-and-twitter/
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This post was previously published on Medium.
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