Former U.S. Pres. Donald Trump Sues Big Tech CEOs for Censorship

Former U.S. President Donald announced that he is filing a lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube and their respective Big Tech CEOs over issues concerning censorship.

The lawsuit alleges that the social media companies have violated Trump's First Amendment rights in suspending his accounts, according to The Daily Wire report.

He also argued that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube should no longer be considered private companies but "a state actor."

Trump said during a press conference in New Jersey that they are asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to immediately halt social media companies' "illegal and shameful" censorship of the American people.

Big Tech Lawsuit

The suit is being filed by nonprofit group America First Policy Institute. It focuses on aiding Trump's policies, according to a Washington Examiner report.

AFPI President and CEO Brooke Rollins and board chair Linda McMahon had both accompanied Trump during the announcement of the lawsuit.

The class-action lawsuits will let Trump represent a larger group of affected people that he says have been unfairly censored by content moderation policies.

Trump noted that they are demanding to end the shadow-banning, to stop the silencing, blacklisting, and canceling, Tech Times reported. He added that they are standing up for the freedom of speech of all Americans, may it be Republican, Democrat, or independent.

The First Amendment's freedom of speech protections does not apply to private organizations and platforms like Facebook or Twitter.

The former president is completely banned from Twitter. In addition, he is banned from Facebook for another two years, according to an Axios report.

Facebook and Twitter had refused to comment regarding the matter.

Meanwhile, social media platform Parler lauded the president's move against the Big Tech companies and their CEOs. Parler said in a statement that there is something very wrong about the platforms' biased "authoritarian content-moderation policies," adding that people should not be outsourcing their critical thinking skills to anyone, according to a Fox News report.

The right-wing platform also noted that they believe some form of government intervention is needed to rectify the situation.

Parler is a favorite among Trump supporters and was the target of Big Tech when it was de-platformed by Amazon, Apple, and Google after the January 6 Capitol riot. It was later reinstated by Apple on its app store after Parler was forced to revise its user policy.

Trump Accounts Suspended

A Twitter senior executive said in February that Trump's ban on the social media platform is going to be applied even if he runs for the White House again and even if he won.

Twitter's chief financial officer, Ned Segal, said that when someone is removed from the platform, they are removed from the platform based on the way their policies work, according to The Guardian report.

Segal added that this applies whether someone is a commentator, a CFO, or a former or public official. He said that their policies are designed to make sure people are not inciting violence.

Meanwhile, Facebook announced in June that Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts may be reinstated in January 2023. The company said in a blog post that they will evaluate external factors such as instances of violence, restriction on peaceful assembly, and other markers of civil unrest, according to a CNBC report.

Facebook said that if Trump is allowed back on the platform, there will be a strict set of sanctions if the former president further violates the company's content moderation rules.

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by Mary Webber

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