A.G. Gancarski
Banished from social media in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, former President Donald Trump is suing Twitter, Facebook and YouTube saying they are violating his First Amendment rights. And he’s using a Florida court to do it.
“If they can do it to me, they can do it to anyone,” Trump said Wednesday morning.
Speaking at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, the 45th President announced he was filing the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida. It remains to be seen if the defendants will accept that venue, however.
In fiery remarks, Trump demanded an “end to the shadowbanning” and a “stop to the silencing,” saying the “censorship is completely un-American.”
“The filing seeks injunctive relief,” Trump said, adding he also wants “resolution and restoration.”
Trump said he would petition for “cumulative damages from these social media giants,” vowing to “hold Big Tech accountable” in what he called a “pivotal battle in the defense of the First Amendment.”
Trump expects a “historic victory for American freedom and freedom of speech,” decrying at some length “Big Tech giants” for “trying to suppress the views of the American people.”
Trump said social media companies “have ceased to be private,” hiding behind Section 230. He also said they work arm-in-arm with the left to “silence Democrats’ political opponents” and peddle “disinformation” as a “de facto censorship arm of the U.S. government.”
Big Tech owns the courts too, Trump contended.
“They play the refs, they play the refs,” Trump said, without evidence. “They talk about all these sorts of things they’re going to do to Supreme Court justices.”
“They play the refs better than Bobby Knight ever played the refs,” Trump added.
The synergy between Big Tech and the government was made “especially clear during the pandemic, when social media giants censored information,” Trump said, decrying “another blatant violation of our Constitution.”
“Other things are happening on a daily basis that will be added as we go along,” Trump promised.
“There is no greater evidence that Big Tech is out of control that they banned the sitting President of the United States, a ban that continues to this day,” Trump said.
Florida passed its own law blocking Big Tech companies from banning or deplatforming candidates, but a federal injunction has blocked that law from going into effect.
“We are standing up for American democracy,” Trump said, “the free speech rights of any candidate.”
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, offering remarks in support of the suit, said this was a constitutional matter.
“Free speech should be protected under the First Amendment,” Bondi counseled.
Bondi is not part of the Trump legal team on this matter.
9 comments
Michael Hoffmann
July 7, 2021 at 1:05 pm
Thanks for the Trumpian comedic relief, AJ!
BTW: Good job hosting Friday roundup on Stereo 90.
Frankie M.
July 7, 2021 at 1:47 pm
Good luck with that…lmao. Should’ve read: If I can sue them I can sue anybody. He does know fB is a private company and can do whatever the hell they want, right?
I didn’t see him shedding any crocodile tears when some homophobic baker in the boonies turns down business from same sex couples.
Matthew Lusk
July 7, 2021 at 10:47 pm
While we’re breaking up monopolies, let’s break up the private federal reserve banking cartel which has pocketed hundreds of trillions through their “flexible currency” scheme.
Cinforoso
July 8, 2021 at 12:16 am
I am amazed at what Facebook and Twitter get away with. They can censor the President of the United States and that is scary.
Robert Rivas
July 8, 2021 at 8:04 am
Facebook and Twitter haven’t “censored” anybody. They have exercised their First Amendment-protected right to control their own speech. Trump advocates government control of their speech. When the government forces a private actor to make speech it chooses not to make, it violates the First Amendment just as much as when the government stops a private actor from making speech it wants to make. This is not a new or unfamiliar rule and it doesn’t come from section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. It comes from the First Amendment and can’t be enacted or changed by Congress. To say that what Twitter and Facebook have done to Trump is “censorship” is pure ignorance of elementary First Amendment principles. Trumpistas are a pollutant and a carcinogen in the American discourse.
Tjb
July 13, 2021 at 1:18 pm
Another frivolous lawsuit created by Trump that he will use to fill his pockets with money from his supporters. Just wondering if these supporters understand the meaning of censorship and the First Amendment.
ross
July 8, 2021 at 8:31 am
I wonder how much Donald can grift out of this loser case from his hapless “base” if they have any spare cash left in the cookie jar after his grift to fund litigation to “stop the steal?” Guess Rudy won’t be counsel of record this time out. Hope the Trump legal team gets paid a hefty retainer up front so they can fund their defense of sanctions for filing frivolous litigation and perhaps disbarment
PeterH
July 8, 2021 at 12:06 pm
From this article:
“ Banished from social media in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots,….”
First, Donald Trump’s call to action on January 6th should never be construed as a riot. Trump attempted a violent coup. He attempted to overthrow a freely elected government.
Secondly, as CNN is reporting today Donald Trump has a long history of staging failed legal strategies. This one is just another fund raising grift.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/07/08/donald-trump-frivolous-lawsuits-roll-the-tape-keilar-newday-vpx.cnn
Jennifer ricco
July 12, 2021 at 9:22 am
You big dummies your pushing (druggies) unproven, not fully even close to tested, deadly side effects, experimental, DNA changing vaccine on a free American peoole. Sure facefraud can do what they want including becoming a legal monopoly/technocracy that we are FORCED to sign into and report to if we want phones and computers. So this is unrestricted power to “”burn” online knowledge like the Nazis losers burnefb books!! It is being allowed by our senile and corrupt president (run by socialists who promote actively suppression of information they don’t want you to know). The freedoms us hard working Americans have fought and died for are being systematically taken and many times it’s done thru back room meetings who hide it in bills or simply lie that the info isn’t there for us to investigate. This unpopular unelected evil woman Kamala will someday along w Biden rot in hell for crimes against humanity. You best not come near my entrance of my home I will have posters up saying do not trespass and do not bother my family with pushing your poison drugs on us. We will not divulge any of our private HEPA info to ANY ONE BUt my doctor. Non of Bribedens flipping business. No way should they come her. They will be run off.
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