Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Trump sues Facebook, Twitter and Google, claiming censorship

Published 07/07/2021, 11:24 AM
Updated 07/07/2021, 08:40 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump speaks to his supporters during the Save America Rally at the Sarasota Fairgrounds in Sarasota, Florida, U.S. July 3, 2021. REUTERS/Octavio Jones

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump speaks to his supporters during the Save America Rally at the Sarasota Fairgrounds in Sarasota, Florida, U.S. July 3, 2021. REUTERS/Octavio Jones

By Jason Lange and Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday filed lawsuits against Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc's Google, as well as their chief executives, alleging they unlawfully silence conservative viewpoints.

The lawsuits, filed in U.S. 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 U.S. 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.

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.

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 U.S. Capitol on Jan. 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 (NASDAQ:NWE) 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."

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump speaks to his supporters during the Save America Rally at the Sarasota Fairgrounds in Sarasota, Florida, U.S. July 3, 2021. REUTERS/Octavio Jones

A federal judge in Florida last week blocked https://www.reuters.com/world/us/federal-judge-rules-florida-social-media-law-likely-violates-free-speech-2021-07-01 a recently enacted state law that was meant to authorize the state to penalize 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.

Latest comments

Shouldn't anybody/any company be allowed to ban someone if they believe that this person's actions/views are against what they believe to be morally/legally acceptable? Isn't that also the "American freedom" Trump claims to defend?
Mark Zuckerberg reportedly went to the hospital today with chest & stomach pains, from laughing hysterically all day.
It's pretty pathetic when even an ex-president doesn't understand that the constitutional protection of free speech pertains to what government can or cannot do, not private or publicly-traded companies. Just another example of Trump falsely crying victim and trying to get back in the spotlight.
Best President we ever had. Thanks President Trump
Biggest liar, crybaby, and whiner who ever held office
Loser-Paloza steal money from his base to pay for more legal actions that have zero chance of success just like all his failed election fraud stolen election suits.
headline should read 'Ape-man attempts to keep his name in the news since he has no game left'
Dumpy at it again, using the campaign donations he scammed from his poor and uneducated base to pay for more failed political theater.
Trump just wants his Twitter back so he can tell everyone what wonderful things ***did…
Congress already did investigate this issue. These companies play by the book. So the maximum that can be is just modifying some regulations to ensure no monopoly or bad control by these companies.
Hundreds of his supporters launched peacefully on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6BLM & Leftists attacked.
Pelosi and Schumer were in on the planned attack by BLM/ANTIFA.
I will always be grateful to Trump for curing windmill cancer…
Reuters, can you just for once report the actual news, instead of always adding “your agenda”?
These MSM media outlets are paid/supported by globalists who have corporate agendas outside of their media reporting, like Amazon owning the New York Times. There is a reason they keep pushing out this overtly biased news despite falling ratings and massive drops in trust of US news (trust of US media is below 30%...almost as low as US approval of Congress).
Sorry, meant Bezos bought Washington Post, not NY Times. Billionaires have been trying to buy up media outlets, and NY Times actually released a statement that they are not for sale.
Sorry, meant Bezos bought Washington Post, not NY Times. Billionaires have been trying to buy up media outlets, and NY Times actually released a statement that they are not for sale.
Good luck with that lol, only going to wasted his money on lawyer fees, well that is if he paid them.
Awesome, stuff like this and asking who shot Ashley Babbit has increased Trump's approval/support while Biden's is falling rapidly. Even with North Korea-style propaganda being spewed by MSM like Retuers and their push polling, they cannot hide the fact that Biden's approval is plummeting. Biden cannot even get a few thousand people to watch his speeches, meanwhile Trump's last couple of rallies have had over 1 million viewers online. Biden has even been trying to use Trump's talking points to gain support. RIP democrats during mid-terms and 2024. Even if Biden does not make it until 2024, Kamala was not even favored in her own state as presidential candidate. I dare democrats to put Kamala up against Trump. Kamala is even less liked than Hillary.
Biden got 300 people only for 4July celebrations. I wonder how many kids he sniffed?
Pointless to sue communists.  It is time to create our own platform
nice try
The paid trolls of this platform do not get it censorship is bad for everyone. When you silence someone else freedom of speech this will end up affecting you as well. First Amendment is sacred and is being violated until everyone will suffer.
keep digging deeper grave
His bully techniques won't work with these big tech companies.
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.