OAKLAND, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – A federal judge has thrown out former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter over his ban from the platform following the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
California federal judge Charles Breyer granted Twitter’s motion to dismiss on May 5 in a lawsuit Trump sought to pursue as a class action. He was joined by five individuals and the American Conservative Union as plaintiffs.
A main issue in his case against Twitter (and related litigation with Facebook and YouTube) was whether Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was unconstitutional. Section 230 protects an “interactive computer service” provider from liability for third-party content hosted on the service or for removing or restricting access to material it finds offensive.
Breyer found Trump and his co-plaintiffs lacked standing to pursue their arguments.
“Plaintiffs offer only the vague and speculative allegation that ‘(u)pon information and belief, defendants would not have de-platformed the plaintiff or similarly situated putative class members but for the immunity purportedly offered by Section 230(c),’” Breyer wrote.
“Why this might be plausible is left unsaid. The Court declines to accept such speculative and conclusory allegations as grounds for a declaratory judgment claim.”
Trump’s argument that Twitter acted as a government entity failed, as the company was found to be entitled to its own First Amendment rights.
He’d also hoped to use a recent Florida law that requires online platforms to establish clear rules for account suspension and follow them regardless of whether they agree with a user’s speech. Defendants countered that the law was passed after Trump’s suspension.
“There is also a major concern about the enforceability of the (Stop Social Media Censorship Act),” Breyer wrote.
“Florida government officials were enjoined from enforcing the SSMCA on June 30, 2021, the day before the law was to take effect, in a well-reasoned decision issued by the Northern District of Florida. The court concluded that the statute violated the First Amendment and was preempted…; it also expressed strong concerns that the statute was impermissibly vague.
“The Court declines plaintiffs’ invitation to disregard this decision, particularly while an appeal is pending, and dismisses the SSMCA without prejudice.”
YouTube and Meta, Facebook’s parent company, have notified the judges hearing their similar cases brought by Trump about the Twitter ruling.