July 7, 2021

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he is filing lawsuits against Twitter, Facebook, and Google after the firms suspended his social media accounts six months ago over his comments after the Jan. 6 Capitol incident.
Speaking from his property in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump and his team said the lawsuits are about protecting the First Amendment right to free speech. They argued that his rights were denied when the three big tech companies banned him.
Trump described the āmajorā lawsuits as a āvery beautiful developmentā to protect free speech in the United States. The suits will be filed U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida and will ask a judge to order an immediate halt to social media companiesā alleged shadowbanning, censoring, blacklisting, and canceling of people who express political viewpoints outside the mainstream.
āItās destroying the country,ā Trump said of social mediaās alleged control over political discourse.
Twitter, Facebook, and Google said in January they banned Trump over his claims that the Nov. 3 election was stolen and alleged he contributed to the Jan. 6 violence. Twitter executives have said Trumpās ban will be permanent, Facebook imposed a two-year ban on the former presidentās account, and Google-owned YouTube has said it would curtail his suspension until it has determined if āthe risk of violence has decreased.ā
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey were named in the lawsuitsāas well as the companies themselves. Trump said the lawsuits will try to compel the court to award him punitive damages over the suspension.

Trump argued that social media companies have āceased to be privateā companies and cited the Section 230 protection shield that such firms employ to protect themselves from liability.
Republicans have argued that the federal rule has allowed Big Tech firms to censor their political opponentsāwhile some have gone further, arguing that social media giants should be regulated as utilities.
āThis lawsuit is just the beginning,ā Trump said of the suits.
Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act allows internet companies to be generally exempt from liability for the material that users post. The law, which provides a legal āsafe harborā for internet companies, also allows social media platforms to moderate their services by removing posts that, for instance, are obscene or violate the servicesā own standards, so long as they are acting in āgood faith.ā
Trumpās lawyers said the lawsuit will focus on provisions in Section 230, which they argued was created in the 1990s to protect children from harmful content online. The way in which Big Tech firms currently use the law as a shield, his team argued, oversteps what it originally intended to do.
āThey are not immune anymore,ā lawyer Pam Bondi said.
Meanwhile, the former president also appeared to preempt his opponentsā criticism of his lawsuit, arguing that mainstream media outlets and Democrat politicians are the ābiggest spreaders of disinformation.ā Trump described mainstream narratives around Republicans wanting to ādefund the police,ā the Russia-collusion claims, and COVID-19 as false.
During his news conference on Wednesday, Trump accused the federal government of using Facebook, Twitter, and Google as its āde facto censorship armā during the COVID-19 pandemic. One claim that was censored, he added, was the assertion that COVID-19 emerged from a Wuhan virology lab last year. But earlier this year, President Joe Biden said many members of the U.S. intelligence community now view the theory as viable.
āThis was especially true during the pandemic when social media companies began censoring informationā based on federal health guidance, the former president said.
Since leaving office, Trump has opted to release statements via his Save America PAC and through a now-defunct section of his website. The former president, who hasnāt signed up for any upstart social media sites like Parler or GETTR, said Wednesday that he isnāt sure if heāll join Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube if the lawsuit is successful.
Trump announced the legal effort is supported by the America First Policy Institute, adding that he believes thousands of other people may join his lawsuit.
Google, Facebook, and Twitter didnāt immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
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