Former President Donald Trump is suing Twitter to get his account reinstated, the Washington Examiner reports.
Trump was permanently banned from Twitter after the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, D.C. For his part, Trump said Twitter should be liable for “its own actions.”
"Defendant is liable for its own speech as well as its own actions. When Defendant works as a partner with the government to censor its Users' First Amendment rights, Defendant is legally accountable for its deeds. ... Defendant’s false statements posted on Plaintiff’s Twitter account are unfair trade and deceptive practices, as Users joined Twitter with the expectation that they would be treated fairly and without slander," the filing reads.
Trump claimed the Big Tech giant acted on behalf of Democrats who "repeatedly encouraged Defendant to censor and restrain Plaintiff’s views, or face catastrophic legal and regulatory consequences."
"While government officials are permitted to express their, or the government's, preferences about what a private company should or should not do, they cannot exert coercive pressure on private parties to censor the speech of others," the filing continues, further alleging that Democrats in power "have subjected social media companies and their CEOs, including Defendant, to increasing pressure to censor speech disfavored by them, and to promote their favored speech, or else face catastrophic legislative and/or regulatory consequences. ... As such, Plaintiff’s censorship was an unconstitutional deprivation of Plaintiff’s free speech, in that the censorship was in response to government coercion."
Facebook also banned Trump after the Jan. 6 attack although it claims that it has received criticism from both sides of the political aisle.
"While many Republicans think we should take one course, many Democrats think we should do the exact opposite. We've faced criticism from Republicans for being biased against conservatives and Democrats for not taking more steps to restrict the exact same content," a told the Washington Examiner. "We have rules in place to protect free expression, and we will continue to apply them impartially."
Rep. Madison Cawthorn also weighed in, arguing that the bans restrict access to information.
"[Censorship] doesn't allow us to be able to talk about controversial issues. It doesn't allow us to be able to challenge the status quo to actually make changes in our country that are going to be beneficial for all Americans," he told the Washington Examiner.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Twitter: (415) 222-9670 or mail to 1355 Market Street Suite 900 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
