It’s been well over a year since Twitter permanently banned Donald Trump, arguably the most chaotic person on the social media platform. How did he respond? By trying to create his own Twitter clone, which so far has been yet another miserable Trump failure. And, of course, by one of his filing flimsy lawsuits. But much like a lot of the things the former president attempts, that, too, was a flop.
As per The Daily Beast, a district judge in California has dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter, which claimed that the service violated the First Amendment. By law, Trump’s legal team has till May 27 to file an amended complaint, but judging from the 17-page order, it sounds like it will be an uphill battle.
“Plaintiffs’ main claim is that defendants have ‘censor[ed]’ plaintiffs’ Twitter accounts in violation of their right to free speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Judge James Donato wrote in his ruling, adding, “Plaintiffs are not starting from a position of strength.”
Donato pointed out that the First Amendment “applies only to governmental abridgements of speech, and not to alleged abridgements by private companies.” He then reminded Trump and his team of the obvious, namely that Twitter “is a private company.”
Twitter booted Trump off the platform two days after the Jan. 6 riot, claiming that he’d helped fan the incident’s flames, thus violating their rules against the “glorification of violence.” Other social media services followed suit, banning him either temporarily or permanently.
When Elon Musk forked over a chunk of his unimaginable fortune to purchase Twitter, the move caused many to speculate that he may reinstate Trump’s account. But Trump told CNBC he wasn’t interested. “I was disappointed by the way I was treated by Twitter,” he claimed. “I won’t be going back on Twitter.” Then again, Trump has a habit of not being exactly truthful, at least not on purpose.
(Via The Daily Beast)