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Trump announces a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and Google (youtube.com)
13 points by dukeofdoom on July 7, 2021 | hide | past | favorite | 5 comments


The video had been removed. This one is still up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZkG7iK38Co


For those who want text instead of video:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/07/trump-says-he-is-suing-faceb...

> The three related lawsuits, filed in federal court in Florida, allege the tech giants have violated plaintiffs’ First Amendments rights.

Well... that's going to be interesting. Has any court ever held that a private company owes a First Amendment duty to others? Maybe something like the phone company, where it's considered a public utility. For this to be applied to Facebook et al, Trump's going to have to go all the way to the Supreme Court and win there. He certainly has both the money and the persistence to try to do so. But it will take two or three years. So he could win just in time for the 2024 election.

But, though IANAL, I don't think he's going to win at the Supreme Court. The argument would probably have to be something like this: "Facebook et al are now in essence public utilities. They shouldn't be able to censor someone any more than the phone company." That's an interesting argument, and one that has a hint of validity to it. But, as I said, my guess is that it won't win.


> Has any court ever held that a private company owes a First Amendment duty to others?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruneyard_Shopping_Center_v._R...


Interesting. And that's California law, which might have some relevance to Facebook et al. (Or might not. Trump isn't a California resident, and Facebook et al might not be incorporated in California.)


On twitter, in the lawsuit below, it was basically government censorship, disguised by one step, through a consulting firm working for the government.

https://www.thedesertreview.com/news/u-s-senator-alex-padill...




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