Donald Trump Suing Big Tech CEOs Over Censorship
By Movieguide® Staff
Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he is suing Big Tech CEOs including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Google’s Sundar Pichai over alleged censorship.
“I’m filing as the lead class representative a major class-action lawsuit against the big tech giants, including Facebook, Google, and Twitter as well as their executives,” Trump said. “We’re going to hold big tech accountable.”
Trump called the lawsuit “a very beautiful development for our freedom of speech.”
He continued: “We are 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.”
Axios broke down the details of the suit:
-
The filing, Trump said, seeks immediate injunctive relief to allow the prompt restoration of his social media accounts. He also said he is asking the court to impose “punitive damages” on the three social media giants.
-
Trump’s legal effort is supported by the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a nonprofit focused on perpetuating Trump’s policies, through a new legal entity called the Constitutional Litigation Partnership.
-
AFPI’s president and CEO Brooke Rollins and board chair Linda McMahon, both former Trump officials, accompanied him during the announcement.
Class action lawsuits would enable Trump to sue the tech CEOs on behalf of a broader group of people who he argues have been censored by biased policies.
- Facebook and Twitter declined to comment.
- To date, Trump and other conservative critics have not presented any substantial evidence that either platform is biased against conservatives in its policies or implementation of them.
The big picture: Data shows that Trump’s megaphone has been significantly muzzled in light of bans from Big Tech platforms, particularly Twitter and Facebook.
- The former president and his allies have repeatedly criticized the bans as censorship. The tech giants argue they were put in place for safety reasons following the Capitol siege in January.
- Facebook’s independent Oversight Board affirmed Facebook’s decision to suspend Trump in May.
- Even during his presidency, Trump tried to take aim at both CEOs and tech companies. In 2020, he signed an executive order that was meant to limit the legal protections that shield social media companies from liability for the content users post on their platforms. President Biden revoked that executive order in May.
“We’re not looking to settle,” Trump told reporters. “We don’t know what’s going to happen but we’re not looking to settle.”
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +2