Donald Trump Sues Social Media Sites. “Allow Me In”
Trump allegedly led the January 6 riot with the help of insurgents to remove Biden who won the presidential election.
By Rakesh Raman
The former U.S. president Donald Trump said on Wednesday (July 7) that he is filing a class action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, and Google, as well as their CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Sundar Pichai.
Serving as the lead plaintiff in the suit, Trump claims he has been wrongfully censored by the social media companies. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have banned Trump’s entry on their sites for his alleged involvement in the January 6 violence at the U.S. Capitol.
The attack on the U.S. Capitol is being construed as an attempted coup staged by Trump with the help of his violent supporters. After the November 3 election that Joe Biden won, Trump has been making false claims of election rigging. Provoked by Trump, a mob engaged with riot police on January 6 when Congress was holding a joint session to count the 2020 Electoral College votes to formally declare Biden’s victory.
Trump allegedly led the January 6 riot with the help of insurgents to remove Biden who won the presidential election. Trump had asked the rioters to “fight like hell” against the November election results. Charged with incitement to insurrection, Trump was impeached by the U.S. House for a second time in January, but he was acquitted in February.
Trump has not given up, as he has decided to come back as the U.S. president by August 2021. Reports suggest that Trump is discussing his plans with his clique to dethrone Biden in the next couple of months.
Obviously, Trump needs social media support to spread his lies so that he could organize his blind followers to stage a revolt against the Biden administration. But by banning Trump, social media companies want to thwart Trump’s evil motives.
With his lawsuit, Trump is asking a court in Florida “to order an immediate halt to social media companies’ illegal, shameful censorship of the American people.” He said he will hold the big tech accountable for muzzling the freedom of speech.
The complaints against Twitter, Facebook, and Google-owned YouTube claim that removal of Trump from the sites amounts to censorship and allege that the companies’ decisions violate his First Amendment right to free speech.
Trump is unlikely to succeed in the court because the online companies have previously been protected under Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934, a federal law that provides legal immunity to websites that moderate user-generated content.
Trump’s petition demands the reinstatement of his accounts on social media sites and removal of warning labels from his “obnoxious” posts.
Meanwhile, the House voted on June 30 to create a new select committee that aims to investigate the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
