Donald Trump, the former US President, announced at a press conference on Wednesday that he has filed class-action lawsuits against three of the world’s biggest tech companies — Facebook, Twitter and Google — along with their respective CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai, Axios reported.
Trump filed these class-action lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube as the ‘lead class representative’ over his suspension on the platforms following the January 6 Capitol Hill violence. In a first of its kind move by the tech giants, Facebook had put a two-year ban on Trump, while Twitter permanently banned him and YouTube extended an indefinite ban.
According the Axios report, in his filing, Trump has sought an immediate injunction to allow the prompt restoration of his social media accounts while asking the court to impose “punitive damages” on the three tech giants.
A class-action lawsuit will facilitate Trump to sue the CEOs of these tech giants on behalf of a broader group of people who he argues have also been wrongfully censored on these platforms.
“We’re asking the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida to order an immediate halt to social media companies’ illegal, shameful censorship of the American people. We’re going to hold big tech very accountable,” said Trump, according to an AP report.
This announcement comes a week after a federal judge blocked a new Florida law that was signed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis to punish large social media companies like Facebook and Twitter for removing content or banning politicians, the AP report added.
How and why Trump was banned
On January 6, violence broke out at the US Capitol Building where the counting of electoral votes was scheduled to take place prior to the official declaration of the winner of the Presidential election 2021. Trump supporters stormed the building and one person was fatally shot while three more succumbed to their injuries.
This followed Trump’s address at a Save America March, where he claimed that a “fraudulent election” was held and pledged never to concede.
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“We are gonna walk down to the Capitol,” he is heard saying in a video released by the BBC, “to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.” Soon after this, demonstrators broke into the building where Senators and Congressmen and women were debating.
As the violence unfolded, Trump posted inflammatory messages on Twitter, while videos of his speech at the rally were shared on other social media platforms.
After repeated warnings to Trump to take down his tweets and videos encouraging the rioters and their violence in the Capitol, Twitter suspended his account. Other social media platforms later followed suit.