Donald Trump, Former US President revealed on Wednesday that he is filing a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and Google, increasing his years-long free speech battle with tech giants who he argues have wrongfully censored him.
“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 CEOs, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai and Jack Dorsey — three real nice guys,” Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
The nation’s top tech firms have become the “enforcers of illegal, unconstitutional censorship,” added the 75-year-old Republican, who was banned from posting on Facebook and Twitter in the wake of the deadly January 6 siege of the US Capitol by his supporters.
READ ALSO: See All Social Media Platforms That Blocked/Suspended Trump’s Account
Trump says he is being joined in the suit by the America First Policy Institute and thousands of American citizens who have been “de-platformed” from social media sites.
“Through this lawsuit, we are standing up for American democracy by standing up for free speech rights of every American — Democrat, Republican, independent, whoever it may be,” Trump said. “This lawsuit is just the beginning.”
Trump said he is filing the suit in US District Court in southern Florida, where he is seeking an immediate halt to censorship, blacklisting and what he called the “cancelling” of people who share his political views.
Trump stressed that he is not looking for any sort of a settlement. “We’re in a fight that we’re going to win,” he said.
Social Media
Donald Trump was banned from some social media platforms following the Capitol violence.
Google-owned YouTube in January 2021 temporarily suspended Donald Trump’s channel and removed a video for violating its policy against inciting violence, joining other social media platforms in banning his accounts.
BizWatch Nigeria recalls that Facebook announced that it does not intend to lift the suspension on Donald Trump’s account. “Our ban is indefinite. We have said at least through the transition. But we have no plans to lift it,” Facebook’s chief operating officer said at an online forum organized by Reuters.
Twitter in January permanently suspended Trump’s account, quoting the risk of further violence following the assault on the US Capitol by his supporters.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account,” Twitter said in a blog post explaining its decision, “we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
