US court dismisses former President Donald Trump’s plea to lift ban on Twitter
- The amended complaint does not plausibly allege a First Amendment claim against Twitter
- Donato left the door open for the suit to be modified and refiled
- Trump was booted from Twitter "due to the risk of further incitement of violence"
Fresh lawsuit filed by former US president Donald Trump seeking to lift the ban from his Twitter account was tossed out Friday by a federal judge in California.
In his ruling, the judge said that the suit’s argued Twitter had “censored” Trump in violation of free speech rights was weak, since the First Amendment bars government bodies, not private businesses, from interfering with what citizens say.
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“The amended complaint does not plausibly allege a First Amendment claim against Twitter,” US District Court Judge James Donato said in a ruling dismissing the lawsuit.
“The TOS (terms of service) gave Twitter contractual permission to act as it saw fit with respect to any account or content for any or no reason.”
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Donato left the door open for the suit to be modified and refiled.
The suit names Twitter and its former chief Jack Dorsey as defendants, and sought cash damages as well as an order to have the suspended accounts immediately reinstated.
Two days after the January 6, 2021 incident, Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account. “Stop the Steal” rally inflamed a mob that later laid siege to the Capitol as lawmakers were certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.
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Trump was booted from Twitter “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” being caused by his tweets, the service said at the time.
The legal defeat comes as billionaire Elon Musk is in the process of buying Twitter and promising to limit content moderation to a legal minimum.
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The deal sets Musk up to revisit the ban on the brash Republican — a move that could roil US politics as the nation marches towards the November midterm elections as well as a potential Trump re-election bid in 2024.
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