Former President Donald Trump has said he is filing class-action lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter and Google, saying the tech majors wrongfully censored him in violation of the First Amenedment.
"We're asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to order an immediate halt to social media companies' illegal, shameful censorship of the American people," Trump said.
'Three Real Nice Guys'
The move comes several months after Facebook, Twitter and a slew of other social media companies banned Trump, accusing him of spreading misinformation about the 2020 US Presidential Election that helped trigger the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.
Trump called Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai "three real nice guys" as he prepares to take the legal road against the behemoths who took millions of his followers away from him.
The huge California-based monopolies that control the world of social media have not commented yet on Trump's move.
Trump said the lawsuit is "a very beautiful development for our freedom of speech".
"We are demanding an end to the shadow-banning, a stop to the silencing, and a stop to the blacklisting, banishing, and cancelling that you know so well," he added during a news conference at his golf resort in New Jersey.
Republicans Close in on Big Tech
Meanwhile, in another major move, the Republicans in Congress reiterated their plan to break up the 'Big Tech' companies and revamp the Section 230.
This provision gave the social media giants the legroom to escape from liability for content on their platforms. As President, Trump had attempted to repeal Section 230, under which companies like Facebook and Twitter got the 'platform' status rather than 'publisher' status.
"It's a liability protection the likes of which nobody in the history of our country has ever received," Trump said, pitching up his criticism of the law, according to BBC.
Trump said the lawsuits will be a 'pivotal battle' in the defense of the First Amendment. He said he will achieve a 'historic victory for American freedom' at the end.
First Amendment Protections
The lawsuits stand for anyone, including the Democrats and the progressive, whose speech should be protected under the First Amendment, Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, said.
However, the move was also criticized by other. The lawsuit is a 'joke' from a constitutional standpoint, said Rebecca MacKinnon, a digital rights advocate who is the founder of Global Voices, according to the Voice of America.
"Trump's lawsuit has nothing to do with winning in court. The audience is his base. It provides a foothold for more disinformation by his supporters on Fox News and elsewhere," she added.
