Donald Trump Sues Facebook, Twitter, Google, Alleging They Silence Conservative Opinions

Trump lost his social media megaphone this year after the companies said he violated their policies against glorifying violence.

By Reuters | Updated: 8 July 2021 09:44 IST

Donald Trump Sues Facebook, Twitter, Google, Alleging They Silence Conservative Opinions

Donald Trump would represent the interests of other users of Twitter, Facebook, and Google's YouTube

Highlights

Donald Trump filed three lawsuits making similar allegations
Trump is seeking class action status for the lawsuits
A federal judge in Florida last week blocked a recently enacted state law

Former US President Donald Trump on Wednesday filed lawsuits against Twitter, Facebook, and Alphabet's Google, as well as their chief executives, alleging they unlawfully silence conservative viewpoints.

The lawsuits, filed in US District Court in Miami, allege the California-based social media platforms violated the right to freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Trump is seeking class action status for the lawsuits, meaning he would represent the interests of other users of Twitter, Facebook, and Google's YouTube who allege they have been unfairly silenced.

Samsung Wins Patent for a Tri-Fold Smartphone With Specialised Barrier Layer for Improved Durability

He filed three lawsuits making similar allegations — one against Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, one against Twitter and its CEO Jack Dorsey, and one against Google and its CEO Sundar Pichai.

"We will achieve a historic victory for American freedom and at the same time, freedom of speech," Trump said at a news conference at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.

A Twitter representative declined to comment. Representatives of Facebook and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Pro-Trump Gettr App Hacked on Launch Day as Half Million Sign Up

Trump lost his social media megaphone this year after the companies said he violated their policies against glorifying violence. Hundreds of his supporters launched a deadly assault on the US Capitol on January 6 after a Trump speech repeating his false claims that his election defeat was the result of widespread fraud, an assertion rejected by multiple courts, state election officials and members of his own administration.

The lawsuits ask a judge to invalidate Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that has been called the backbone of the internet because it provides websites with protections from liability over content posted by users. Trump and others who have attacked Section 230 say it has given big internet companies too much legal protection and allowed them to escape responsibility for their actions.

"This complaint is hard to even make sense of," said Paul Gowder, a professor of law at Northwestern University.

Trump sought to portray the social media companies as subject to the same First Amendment requirements as government entities when it comes to censorship, but Gowder said nothing in the lawsuits "even comes close to turning social media companies into government actors."

A federal judge in Florida last week blocked a recently enacted state law that was meant to authorise the state to penalise social media companies when they ban political candidates, with the judge saying the law likely violated free speech rights.

The lawsuit said the bill signed by Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in May was unconstitutional. It would have made Florida the first state to regulate how social media companies moderate online speech.

Windows 11 has been unveiled, but do you need it? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.