Washington, May 7: A US judge dismissed former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter that alleged the social media company violated his freedom of speech by suspending his account, according to court documents.
“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 the filing on Friday. “Plaintiffs are not starting from a position of strength. Twitter is a private company, and ‘the First Amendment applies only to governmental abridgements of speech, and not to alleged abridgements by private companies.'”
Donato added that the lawsuit does not plausibly allege that Twitter acted as a government entity when it suspended Trump’s account.
Trump filed a lawsuit early last year and argued that Twitter was coerced by members of Congress to suspend his account.
Twitter has insisted its ban does not constitute censorship but were set up for public safety in response to the January 6 events at the US Capitol.
At the time, Twitter permanently banned Trump when he had 88 million followers. (UNI)
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