Trump files lawsuit to restore his Twitter account
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U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on January 12, 2021 in Washington, DC
San Francisco: Former US President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit in Florida seeking to force Twitter to reinstate his account, which the company suspended in January following the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol. According to reports, the plea argues that the platform's ban violates the First Amendment and the state's new social media law.
Trump's attorneys on Friday filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Miami seeking a preliminary injunction against Twitter and its CEO, Jack Dorsey, reports Associated Press.
According to a report, the former President argues in the plea that Twitter, "coerced by members of the US Congress", is censoring him, and described the social media platform as "a major avenue of public discourse".
Trump seeks to be temporarily reinstated on Twitter while he continues his efforts toward permanent reinstatement.
Twitter "exercises a degree of power and control over political discourse in this country that is immeasurable, historically unprecedented, and profoundly dangerous to open democratic debate", the complaint states.
The former President used his @RealDonaldTrump account to announce policy and personnel decisions (often to the surprise of the agencies and people involved), criticise political enemies and spread misinformation about election results.
Twitter permanently banned @RealDonaldTrump on January 4, two days after the deadly Capitol riot staged by pro-Trump supporters seeking to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Twitter at first put a 12-hour ban on the former President's account for "repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy" after he posted tweets repeating lies that the election was stolen.
The platform made the ban permanent two days later. Twitter cited concerns that Trump would incite further violence. Prior to the ban, Trump had roughly 89 million followers on Twitter.
Other social platforms, including Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube, also banned Trump after the January 6 riot. Facebook's ban will last two years, until Jan. 7, 2023, after which the company will review his suspension while YouTube's ban is indefinite.
In July, Trump filed lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against all three tech companies and their CEOs, claiming that he and other conservatives have been wrongfully censored. The motion for a preliminary injunction was filed as part of Trump's case against Twitter.
