President Donald J. Trump announced he is leading a class action lawsuit against big tech companies for their censoring of conservative posts and accounts.
The announcement was made at a press conference from Mr. Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, NJ, this morning.
“Today, in conjunction with the America First Policy Institute, I am filing 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,” Mr. Trump said.
“We are asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to order an immediate halt to the social media companies’ illegal and shameful censorship of the American People. We are demanding an END to the shadow-banning, a stop to the silencing, and a stop to the blacklisting, banishing, and canceling.”
“As our case will prove, this censorship is unlawful, it is unconstitutional, and it is completely un-American,” he added.
The suit seeks injunctive relief that will allow for the restoration of suspended accounts as well as punitive damages against the companies. Mr. Trump’s accounts were banned or restricted from most major social media platforms shortly after January 6th.
The suit names Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as plaintiffs along with the platforms’ respective CEO’s.
The President’s legal team, headed up by John P. Coale, says the legal argument for the suit is based on the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. While the tech companies are private companies and can legally set terms for their services the legal team will try to prove that they acted either in conjunction or under coercion from actors within government. That, the President’s legal team will argue, is a violation of Americans’ freedom of speech.
The President was joined at Bedminster by Brooke Rollins, head of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a non-partisan institute that researches and develops policies that put the American people first.
“President Trump often remarked that if Big Tech is out to get him, it’s because they’re out to get the American people — and he was just standing in the way. The actions of the Big Tech firms we’re taking to court illustrate the point perfectly. What they’ve done, what they’ve wrought in the past few years staggers the imagination,” Rollins said during comments from Bedminister.
“All Americans need Donald Trump to win — not for what it will mean for him, but for what it will mean for every American man, woman, and child,” she added.
A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment on the suit while requests for comment from Facebook and Google were not immediately returned.
© 2021 ITN / Mike Dakkak