Discussion

• @judiciarygop House Judiciary Gop on x

  🚨 #BREAKING: House Judiciary Republicans Release Agenda for Taking on Big Tech. https://twitter.com/...

• @willoremus Will Oremus on x

  Trump's lawsuit claiming that Facebook, Twitter, and Google are “censoring” him makes no legal sense—but plenty of political and financial sense. I wrote about why “lol private companies can't do censorship” is the wrong response. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x

  Trump's social media lawsuits, if they're somehow allowed to proceed, could end up forcing him to testify under oath about Jan. 6.

• @ericgarland Eric Garland on x

  Those lawsuits should also force him to testify to his partnership with social media company in 2016 - assisting the Russian intelligence services in their attack on American democracy. https://twitter.com/...

• @projectlincoln @projectlincoln on x

  Social media companies need not worry about Donald Trump's lawsuit. He and his legal team have sued us countless of times — and we are still here making his life miserable.

• @rexhuppke Rex Huppke on x

  Never let Eric Trump draft your lawsuit. https://twitter.com/...

• @questauthority Mike Dunford on x

  OK. So this isn't actually a lawsuit. It's a tweet with a filing fee. This is immediately apparent to any minimally competent attorney who so much as glances at the caption and causes of action. That doesn't mean this is apparent to @IBOLLC and the other clowns who signed this.

• @tribelaw Laurence Tribe on x

  There's absolutely no legal basis for Trump to sue any of the social media platforms that booted him: they were just exercising their 1st Amendment rights as private companies to decide whose speech to publish. https://twitter.com/...

• @tribelaw Laurence Tribe on x

  If I were on the receiving end of this obviously bogus lawsuit, I'd yawn. Then yawn again. https://www.axios.com/...

• @fred_guttenberg Fred Guttenberg on x

  Let me clarify what @tedcruz is actually saying. He is saying the lawsuit is a frivolous pile of shit. https://twitter.com/...

• @mollyjongfast Molly Jong-Fast on x

  Also as if that was the whole point of doing it https://twitter.com/...

• @questauthority Mike Dunford on x

  The “causes of action” are: 1: “Violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” Facebook is not Congress. Nor is Facebook one of the 50 States. Nor is there, to my knowledge, a statute providing a private cause of action against a private party for 1A violations. http…

• @georgehahn George Hahn on x

  Awww, Shitler wants to sue Facebook, Twitter and YouTube because he broke the rules and they won't let him talk. #GoodLuckWithThat #FerMee https://twitter.com/...

• @renato_mariotti Renato Mariotti on x

  Only governmental actors can violate the First Amendment. This lawsuit is a non-starter and is going nowhere. https://twitter.com/...

• @tedcruz Ted Cruz on x

  .@steve_vladeck At the end of the day, the courts might agree with you, but here's a credible argument by serious thinkers that Big Tech—by directly implementing govt policy, at the express behest of govt decision-makers—have become de facto state actors: https://www.wsj.com/... …

• @maggienyt Maggie Haberman on x

  I mean it's almost like one relates to the other https://twitter.com/...

• @questauthority Mike Dunford on x

  OK. I have legitimately finished the first half of my writing goals for today, so I can take a little bit of time to go through the Trump LOLsuit against facebook. That it is a LOLsuit is immediately apparent from the caption of the case. https://www.dropbox.com/... https://twitt…

• @steve_vladeck Steve Vladeck on x

  On one hand, it's great fodder for first-year Civil Procedure students. On the other hand, it's an error that just about all first-year Civil Procedure students would know to avoid. https://twitter.com/...

• @evelyndouek Evelyn Douek on x

  Trump has already got everything he wanted from the lawsuit

• @matthiasellis Matthew on x

  Soon it will be illegal not to comment “Nice post! You're right, and furthermore; you've always been Very Smart!” within 24 hours of your weird Uncle posting about how the Green New Deal is like the Cultural Revolution on Facebook https://twitter.com/...

• @nytnickc Nick Corasaniti on x

  And there it is: Trump fundraising appeal off his lawsuit already out https://twitter.com/...

• @bradheath Brad Heath on x

  Trump's Facebook lawsuit is filed in federal court in Florida. Facebook's terms of service requires that “any claim, cause of action, or dispute you have against us” be filed in federal court in northern California or San Mateo County state court.

• @aricohn Ari Cohn on x

  This is even more stupid than I expected https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @adamsteinbaugh Adam Steinbaugh on x

  Donald Trump is suing Facebook for violating the First Amendment. Here's the complaint: https://www.dropbox.com/...

• @samstein Sam Stein on x

  How you know this is a unserious lawsuit: Trump is already fundraising off of it https://twitter.com/...

• @devlinbarrett Devlin Barrett on x

  When paragraph 3 of your lawsuit declares Facebook is the government https://twitter.com/...

• @bencjacobs Ben Jacobs on x

  Assuming the lawsuit advances (which is a big if), Trump will have to give sworn testimony about January 6 https://twitter.com/...

• @steve_vladeck Steve Vladeck on x

  The First Amendment does *not* apply to non-governmental actors. Full stop. https://twitter.com/...

• @tribelaw Laurence Tribe on x

  Trump has the First Amendment argument backwards. Facebook and Twitter themselves have a First Amendment right to decide what speech their platforms amplify — a right that includes excluding speakers who incite violence, as Trump has done. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @jaywillis Jay Willis on x

  Obviously Trump's lawsuit against Facebook and Twitter for censoring his posts is dumb and frivolous, which you can conclude after reading the entire 44-page complaint or just after checking how many of his Very Serious Lawyers use their AOL email accounts https://www.dropbox.com…

• @barbmcquade Barb McQuade on x

  @TimOBrien Trump lawyers know they will never need to produce any discovery because the case will be dismissed before an answer is filed. This lawsuit can only be about distraction and fundraising because it is not about the law.

• @svdate S.V. Dáte on x

  Trump claims he is filing a “class-action” lawsuit against social media companies for throwing him off their platforms. What, exactly, is the class? Presidents who lost re-election and then tried to overthrow American democracy to remain in power? That is a class of one. https://…

• @adamkinzinger Adam Kinzinger on x

  Just a sad, little man. https://twitter.com/...

• @harrylitman Harry Litman on x

  👇👇👇except before discovery a motion to dismiss will be granted because in lawyer speak Trump has failed to state a claim on which relief can be granted, since FB Twitter Google are not government actors. Just another PR stunt and abuse of the litigation system. https://twitter.co…

• @bradmossesq Bradley P. Moss on x

  One, HAHAHA Two, no. Three, if it was, DOJ would have to intervene and I'm sure that's totally what Trump wants. Four, if Facebook/Twitter were actual state actors, don't you think the White House Counsel would have told Trump that and advised him how to control them? https://twi…

• @timobrien Tim O'Brien on x

  So Trump sued the techies and chose FL as his venue. But: 1) Section 230 protects social platforms from lawsuits alleging unfair removal of posts or accounts 2) A FL law prohibiting such suspensions was recently blocked by a federal judge 3) Discovery https://www.bloomberg.com/..…

• @arguendiot Kwame Brown V. Board on x

  this is trump's lawyer https://twitter.com/...

• @w_terrence Terrence K. Williams on x

  President Trump is suing Facebook and Twitter! What they did to him and what they have been doing to all of us is flat out unfair! Class Action Lawsuit. WE DESERVE JUSTICE! FOLLOW ME ON the new Free Speech App GETTR! It's better than Twitter Follow 👉 https://www.gettr.com/... htt…

• @ememess Michael Marshall Smith on x

  I, for one, am sure that Trump's frivolous lawsuits are definitely not a textbook case of him trying to distract everybody from something else... like the very non-frivolous lawsuits against his own company. https://twitter.com/...

• @jolly_jack Phillip M Jackson on x

  Twitter's TOS (which you agree to when you sign up) literally says “We may suspend or terminate your account or cease providing you with all or part of the Services at any time for any or no reason, including, but not limited to [reasons listed]” https://www.bbc.co.uk/...

• @akivamcohen Akiva Cohen on x

  That's two guys with “@aol.com” addresses for their professional email, a 13-lawyer firm that does personal injury work and insurance litigation, with lead counsel whose specialty is insurance claims and criminal defense (Matthew Baldwin), and a Greenwich CT firm whose named guys

• @frankluntz Frank Luntz on x

  Trump's social media lawsuits follow the same playbook as his Election Defense Fund, which netted $250 million in donations to (unsuccessfully) overturn the 2020 election. https://twitter.com/...

• @steve_vladeck Steve Vladeck on x

  Don't be taken in by the “what if it does” retort. The “state action” doctrine is about as firmly embedded a principle of constitutional law as there is. To overturn it would have incredibly broad consequences — many of which the current Supreme Court would be loath to embrace.

• @jannwolfe Jan Wolfe on x

  Trump found not one but 8 lawyers willing to put their names on lawsuits alleging that private companies violated the First Amendment, which applies to government entities. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @ariehkovler Arieh Kovler on x

  Surprisingly, a big focus of this Trump class action is Covid. Trump et al are suing Facebook for adding health warnings to Covid disinformation. https://twitter.com/...

• @saracarterdc Sara A. Carter on x

  #BREAKING: Trump files lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and Google Trump's targets include Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google Sundar Pichai. Good... it's time... https://saraacarter.com/...

• @billmon27 @billmon27 on x

  President Trump is fighting for ALL American's right to free speech https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @j_remy_green @j_remy_green on x

  A casual reminder that under the Federal Rules, a motion to dismiss doesn't stay discovery. So Facebook can move to dismiss and schedule Trump's deposition while the motion is pending. https://twitter.com/...

• @johnwdean John W. Dean on x

  This should be a nationally televised deposition.... Please schedule it next week. Don't move to dismiss, which would be the normal move. Make him deal with the trap he created for himself. He will lose on the merits! https://twitter.com/...

• @teri_kanefield Teri Kanefield on x

  I suspect this nonsense lawsuit is to keep everyone from talking about the fact that the Trump Organization has been indicted. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @goldengateblond Shauna on x

  Lumbering Toddler Super Mad No One Wants to Hear Him Screech https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @cward40mc CynthiaMcClellanWard on x

  Nobody in the history of this country has ever, more effusively, more repetitively, or to a larger worldwide audience, abused the American right to free speech, the right to spread lies, or influence violence and hate...than DJTrump. https://twitter.com/...

• @bobbywilson1004 Bobby on x

  Feel as you may about Trump, but him being banned on the top 3 social media platforms is just plain out wrong.... I hope he wins the lawsuit & takes 100's of millions of dollars from all 3 CEOs. I haven't been on Facebook in 5 years.... Fuck Zuckerberg & his algorithms! https://t…

• @levparnas Lev Parnas on x

  Trump doesn't expect to win, it's just another way to take in more money from his cult members. Grifters gonna grift! https://twitter.com/...

• @out5p0ken Outspoken on x

  MAGA doesn't know this. It's all about the grift — send me money to sue Facebook and twitter. https://twitter.com/...

• @michaelgrantbks Michael Grant on x

  This'll be fun. The orange loser who doesn't pay his lawyers and hires from the bottom of the barrel, vs. every major law firm in the United States backed by all the money in the world. https://twitter.com/...

• @tonygoldmark @tonygoldmark on x

  remember when this guy claimed to be against regulating corporations? now he's trying to sue them for allegedly violating some “corporations aren't ever allowed to censor their own content or be biased against anything” law that has never existed https://twitter.com/...

• @joycecaroloates Joyce Carol Oates on x

  (how could a lawyer seriously take on this case? T***p himself had tried to find a way to censor SNL for lampooning him.) https://twitter.com/...

• @kendallybrown Kendall Youens on x

  The website where Trump's team said people could join Trump's class action lawsuit against social media companies instead just redirects to the “America First Policy Institute” website. The site only allows people to donate & join their email list. It's always just a grift. https…

• @brooklynmarie Brooke Binkowski on x

  I thought he didn't care and was making his own social networks or whatever lol https://twitter.com/...

• @lindaholmes @lindaholmes on x

  I feel like if you can't articulate what the legal basis for a lawsuit would be, reporting that someone plans to file it (as a class action??) is premature. https://twitter.com/...

• @erickfernandez Erick Fernandez on x

  This is part of the culture war. He'll announce it to get media attention, rile up some of his idiot base and won't follow through because he won't want to pay his lawyers and go through the discovery process. https://twitter.com/...

• @keitholbermann Keith Olbermann on x

  This is the dumbest thing Trump has ever done. It's wonderful. I remind you from personal experience that when you sue somebody you have to give a multi-day deposition on anything relevant to the topic...in this case, like your role inspiring the 1/6 Coup https://apnews.com/...

• @katiephang Katie S. Phang on x

  These lawsuits were DOA. https://apnews.com/...

• @tortmuseum @tortmuseum on x

  Irresistible force, meet immovable object: Trump, banned from Facebook and Twitter, sues, claiming censorship and “shadow-banning.” The companies are protected by sec. 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields them from liability. Stay tuned... https://apnews.com/...

• @walshfreedom Joe Walsh on x

  Remember: His supporters tell me every single day they don't care about the truth. Not one bit. They only care that he fights. That's it. https://twitter.com/...

• @morningconsult @morningconsult on x

  According to our June poll, a slim majority of voters support Facebook's two-year suspension of Trump. https://morningconsult.com/... https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @bradmossesq Bradley P. Moss on x

  Why Trump just wants a PR and fundraising moment, not a real lawsuit. 1) possibility of sworn depositions and discovery involving him and his closest aides/family 2) depending on claims alleged, potential anti-SLAPP damages in counterclaims 3) he'll almost certainly lose

• @mattblaze Matt Blaze on x

  It appears that the Trump legal team's mastery of election law is matched only by their grasp of first amendment law. https://twitter.com/...

• @barbmcquade Barb McQuade on x

  “Congress” shall make no law ... Trump and his lawyers need to read the first line of the First Amendment. His lawsuit complaining of censorship against private social media companies and their leaders is going nowhere. https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @m_feeney Matthew Feeney on x

  This is crazy. Without #Section230 Trump's Twitter and Facebook accounts wouldn't have lasted five minutes! https://twitter.com/...

• @popehat SchemeToDefraudHat on x

  To understand the legal ethos and moral and political character of the American populist right, imagine if the dudebro at the gym sued Apple because girls he wants to hit on are wearing Airpods

• @dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x

  How much money do we think Trump and downballot GOP can raise off a threat to sue tech CEOs that will probably never materialize because a) he won't follow through for fear of discovery b) it will be dismissed by the courts?

• @geoffrbennett Geoff Bennett on x

  Trump's effort to sue Facebook, Twitter and Google is doomed to fail, reports @PeteWilliamsNBC. Judges have consistently ruled that social media platforms are private entities. The First Amendment is a check on government power, not on the authority of private entities.

• @kevincollier Kevin Collier on x

  This is the only way to report on today's lawsuit. It's a publicity stunt, not a real legal threat. Framing it as such is misleading to readers. https://twitter.com/...

• @timobrien Tim O'Brien on x

  Discovery will be a joyride for Facebook, Twitter and Google's lawyers in this one. They can vet his Jan. 6 actions and anything he did before the insurrection that helped incite it. Go ahead, Trump - sue. Don't just say you “expect to announce” a suit. Do it. https://twitter.com…

• @arguendiot Kwame Brown V. Board on x

  one thing you want in a class action is for your lead class representative to be the most sui generis person on the planet. https://twitter.com/...

• @pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings on x

  Occurs to me that if twitter were a state actor and suing them over banning his own account while in office, then this really is, unironically, the president in his personal capacity suing himself in his official capacity.

• @pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings on x

  Does the federal vacancies reform act apply to firing jack and then moving zuckerberg horizontally need some experts to weigh in

• @meridithmcgraw Meridith McGraw on x

  Trump: “We are going to look so closely and make sure that the liability protections [tech companies] have under Section 230 is at a very minimum changed and at a maximum taken away.”

• @pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings on x

  If the president acting in his official capacity chooses in any given instant not to tweet, does that decision infringe on the first amendment rights of himself acting in his individual capacity? So many new questions this lawsuit raises

• @pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings on x

  YouTube gonna be grown up and rise above it and simply assert a sovereign immunity defense

• @pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings on x

  Twitter counsel probably gonna go for the mega troll like “we're not a state actor because we're not a subsidiary of facebook” or smth

• @reckless Nilay Patel on x

  Trump is looking for attention and these lawsuits against Facebook and Twitter are embarrassingly stupid. Don't get it twisted.

• @rayredacted @rayredacted on x

  If you refuse to learn what the First Amendment is (and isn't), at least learn what Discovery means. https://twitter.com/...

• @evelyndouek Evelyn Douek on x

  How does YouTube do it. Like, honestly. How?? Magic dust. https://twitter.com/...

• @campuscodi Catalin Cimpanu on x

  That's not how the First Amendment works, though. You'd expect a former US president to know his constitution better than some rando European https://twitter.com/...

• @adamsteinbaugh Adam Steinbaugh on x

  And in a third lawsuit, Trump sues YouTube for violating the First Amendment: https://www.courtlistener.com/ ...

• @adamsteinbaugh Adam Steinbaugh on x

  Trump is currently on stage explaining that Section 230 protects Facebook and Twitter from liability. Coming soon to a Rule 11 motion in the Southern District of Florida.

• @adamsteinbaugh Adam Steinbaugh on x

  Trump has also filed a separate lawsuit against Twitter for (sigh) violating the First Amendment. https://storage.courtlistener.com/ ...

• @willoremus Will Oremus on x

  Trump claims that once tech companies got Section 230 protection, “they're not private companies anymore.” His lawsuit seems... fairly unrelated to the actual law? https://twitter.com/...

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  In hindsight it seems obvious that Trump's “new social media platform” would be a lawsuit https://twitter.com/...

• @willoremus Will Oremus on x

  Notable that Trump's lawsuit against Facebook and Twitter, challenging their right to moderate content, comes the same day as the GOP unveils its Big Tech antitrust plan, which is actually mostly about restricting social media's right to moderate content. https://twitter.com/...

• @pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings on x

  Facebook's legal counsel all furiously debating whether to submit a “lol you got us, we're state actors, and that's why DOJ should substitute for us in your stupid lawsuit, good luck” brief

• @sarafischer Sara Fischer on x

  Updates: — Trump said he's filing as the lead class rep in the lawsuit filed w the Southern District of FL — The filing seeks injunctive relief to allow “prompt restoration” of Trump's accounts, he says — He's also asking court to impose “punitive damages” on social media giants …