Trump Sues Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg

 


Former President Donald Trump has filed suit against Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. He even dragged the names of Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai in the claim.
At a press conference held at a golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey on Wednesday (7/7/2021) local time, Trump claimed that he and other conservatives had been wrongly censored. He also demanded that his account be restored.



"We are asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to order an immediate end to illegal censorship of United States companies," Trump said. "We're going to hold the big tech companies accountable."



The lawsuit against Facebook and CEO Zuckerberg says Facebook acted unconstitutionally when it removed Trump from the platform. Meanwhile, lawsuits against Twitter and YouTube contain similar claims.



The three were asked to provide unspecified damages, declare section 230 unconstitutional and restore Trump's account, along with several other plaintiffs who joined in the claim that the posts or accounts were deleted.



As you know Trump has been suspended from the platform since January, when his followers violently stormed the Capitol building, trying to block Congress from allowing a presidential victory for Joe Biden. The companies cited concerns that Trump would incite further violence and put him under lockdown.





Twitter, Facebook, and Google are all private companies, and users must agree to their terms of service to use their products. Under section 230 of the Fair Communications Act of 1996, social media platforms are allowed to moderate their services by removing posts deemed indecent or violating the service's own standards, as long as they act in "good faith." The law also generally exempts internet companies from responsibility for material posted by users.



But Trump and some other politicians have long argued that Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms have abused those protections and should lose their immunity or at least have it reduced.



As for Trump's lawsuit, it is likely to fail, said Eric Goldman, a law professor at the University of Santa Clara in California who has studied more than 60 such lawsuits.



"They've debated everything, including the First Amendment, and they've gotten nothing," Goldman said. "Perhaps he got a trick that will give him a chance in the dozens of lawsuits before him. I doubt it."
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