Judge Dismisses Trump Suit Against Twitter Over Censorship Claims
A federal judge has tossed a lawsuit filed last year by former President
Donald Trump
against
Twitter Inc.
TWTR -1.11%
and its then-chief executive
Jack Dorsey
over alleged censorship, an issue that the company’s potential new owner,
Elon Musk,
has said he would clamp down on.
U.S. District Judge
James Donato
of the Northern District of California on Friday ruled against Mr. Trump and other plaintiffs who were seeking class-action status against the social-media company, saying claims that their Twitter accounts were censored by Twitter didn’t violate their First Amendment rights. Mr. Trump was the most prominent plaintiff in the case.
“Plaintiffs are not starting from a position of strength,” the judge wrote, citing case law that the First Amendment applies only to restrictions of speech by the government, not by private companies.
Twitter banned Mr. Trump’s personal account two days after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his followers, citing the risk of further incitement of violence. Mr. Trump since has started his own social-media platform, Truth Social, and said he has no plans to return to Twitter should that one day become an option.
A spokeswoman for Twitter declined to comment. Mr. Trump and Mr. Dorsey didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The ruling highlights a potential challenge for Mr. Musk as he works to complete a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter and take it private. The
Tesla Inc.
CEO has indicated that he plans to loosen the company’s content-moderation practices, and he has suggested that debate on the platform should be open as long as it doesn’t break the law. Last month, a top European regulator cautioned that Mr. Musk would need to follow the bloc’s new rules on content moderation.
Mr. Musk’s comments have sparked a debate over the parameters of online discourse and how the tech giants behind the biggest social platforms enforce their rules. Twitter and its industry peers long have struggled to strike a balance between letting users speak their minds and avoiding the spread of hate, misinformation and incitements of violence.
Mr. Musk is getting closer to closing the deal for Twitter. In a regulatory filing Thursday he said he assembled a group of investors to provide more than $7 billion to back his bid. In previous filings he said he lined up more than $25 billion in debt from a group of banks led by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and
Barclays
PLC. He also said he would personally commit $21 billion in equity.
Write to Sarah Needleman at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
A federal judge has tossed a lawsuit filed last year by former President
Donald Trump
against
Twitter Inc.
TWTR -1.11%
and its then-chief executive
Jack Dorsey
over alleged censorship, an issue that the company’s potential new owner,
Elon Musk,
has said he would clamp down on.
U.S. District Judge
James Donato
of the Northern District of California on Friday ruled against Mr. Trump and other plaintiffs who were seeking class-action status against the social-media company, saying claims that their Twitter accounts were censored by Twitter didn’t violate their First Amendment rights. Mr. Trump was the most prominent plaintiff in the case.
“Plaintiffs are not starting from a position of strength,” the judge wrote, citing case law that the First Amendment applies only to restrictions of speech by the government, not by private companies.
Twitter banned Mr. Trump’s personal account two days after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his followers, citing the risk of further incitement of violence. Mr. Trump since has started his own social-media platform, Truth Social, and said he has no plans to return to Twitter should that one day become an option.
A spokeswoman for Twitter declined to comment. Mr. Trump and Mr. Dorsey didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The ruling highlights a potential challenge for Mr. Musk as he works to complete a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter and take it private. The
Tesla Inc.
CEO has indicated that he plans to loosen the company’s content-moderation practices, and he has suggested that debate on the platform should be open as long as it doesn’t break the law. Last month, a top European regulator cautioned that Mr. Musk would need to follow the bloc’s new rules on content moderation.
Mr. Musk’s comments have sparked a debate over the parameters of online discourse and how the tech giants behind the biggest social platforms enforce their rules. Twitter and its industry peers long have struggled to strike a balance between letting users speak their minds and avoiding the spread of hate, misinformation and incitements of violence.
Mr. Musk is getting closer to closing the deal for Twitter. In a regulatory filing Thursday he said he assembled a group of investors to provide more than $7 billion to back his bid. In previous filings he said he lined up more than $25 billion in debt from a group of banks led by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and
Barclays
PLC. He also said he would personally commit $21 billion in equity.
Write to Sarah Needleman at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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