Former US president Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against three of the country’s biggest tech companies, claiming he and other conservatives have been wrongfully censored.
Mr Trump announced the action against Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube, along with the companies’ chief executives, at a press conference in New Jersey on Wednesday.
He was joined by other plaintiffs in the suits, which were filed in federal court in Miami.
“We’re demanding an end to the shadow-banning, a stop to the silencing and a stop to the blacklisting, banishing and cancelling that you know so well,” he said.
Under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, social media platforms are allowed to moderate their services by removing posts that, for instance, are obscene or violate the services’ own standards, so long as they are acting in “good faith”.
The law also generally exempts internet companies from liability for the material that users post.
But Mr Trump and some other politicians have long argued that Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms have abused that protection and should lose their immunity – or at least have to earn it by satisfying requirements set by the government.
Mr Trump was suspended from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube after his followers stormed the Capitol building on January 6th.
The companies cited concerns that he would incite further violence.
Continued lies
Nonetheless, Mr Trump has continued to spread lies about the 2020 election, claiming that he won, even though state and local election officials, his own attorney general and numerous judges, including some he appointed, have said there is no evidence of the mass voter fraud he alleges.
Facebook, Google and Twitter all declined to comment.
The suits argue that banning or suspending Mr Trump and the other plaintiffs is a violation of the First Amendment, despite the fact that the companies are private.
The suit against Facebook and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook acted unconstitutionally when it removed Mr Trump from the platform.
Suits against Twitter and YouTube make similar claims.
All three ask the court to award unspecified damages, declare Section 230 unconstitutional and restore Mr Trump’s accounts, along with those of the other plaintiffs, a handful of others who have all had posts or accounts removed.
But Mr Trump’s lawsuits are likely doomed to fail, said Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University in California who has studied more than 60 similar, failed lawsuits over the past few decades that sought to take on internet companies for terminating or suspending users’ accounts.
“They’ve argued everything under the sun, including First Amendment, and they get nowhere,” Mr Goldman said.
“Maybe he’s got a trick up his sleeve that will give him a leg up on the dozens of lawsuits before him. I doubt it.”
Mr Goldman said it’s likely Mr Trump is instead pursuing the suits to garner attention.
As president, Mr Trump last year signed an executive order challenging Section 230.
“It was always about sending a message to their base that they’re fighting on their behalf against the evil Silicon Valley tech giants,” Mr Goldman said.
Matt Schruers, the president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a tech industry trade group that includes Facebook, Twitter and Google, said internet companies have a right to enforce their terms of service.
“Frivolous class action litigation will not change the fact that users, even US presidents, have to abide by the rules they agreed to,” he said in a statement. – AP