BIGGEST LOSER: Trump faces yet another legal setback in Twitter court case
On Friday, May 6th, Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter for kicking him permanently off the platform was thrown out after a judge dismissed the litigious former president’s claim that the ban violated his First Amendment rights.
The First Amendment prevents Congress from making laws that infringe on a citizen’s right to exercise freedom of expression but does not apply to the content moderation of private, non-governmental companies.
On January 6th, 2021, Twitter removed those tweets written by the loser-in-chief that violated their terms of service. What started as a 12-hour ban became permanent two days later. On January 8th, Twitter released a statement on its decision.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them – specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter – we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement,” the company announced.
The company cited two specific tweets that Twitter determined had violated their policy against Glorification of Violence. Given the violence and volatility immediately prior to, during, and after the attempted coup, the decision came as a relief to those outraged by Trump’s incendiary rhetoric around his phony claims of a stolen election.
Two days after MAGA stormed the Capitol, erected a gallows, and called for the “hanging” of then-Vice President Mike Pence, beat law enforcement officers with American flags, and saw a woman shot and killed – Trump tweeted:
“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
Following it up with this tweet:
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
After being voted out of office in the 2020 election, Trump continued to perpetuate election misinformation. giving his supporters false hope that the election could be overturned in his favor. This eventually led to the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse on January 6th, 2021, where Trump told his crowd of supporters “we fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.” The result: a violent attack on the Capitol.
Despite all the evidence that Twitter’s decision to ban Trump from its platform was a reasonable choice given the dangers of the circumstances, the law-suit-happy, disgraced ex-president nevertheless decided to sue the social; media company to get reinstated on the platform.
U.S. District Court Judge James Donato dismissed Trump’s claims that Twitter was acting as an agent of the government when banning him and that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is unconstitutional. In Judge Donato’s 17-page decision, he says the “plaintiffs are not starting from a position of strength” with their argument.
This is the first of three cases related to Trump’s banishment from a social media platform to be dismissed in court.
Trump is also suing Facebook and YouTube.
Those cases are currently pending, and given the outcome of the Twitter lawsuit, Trump looks likely to be disappointed again with only the upcoming potential acquisition of Twitter by free-speech-advocating billionaire Elon Musk as his last hope at regaining his literal bully pulpit.
Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick
