Former President Donald Trump has filed a motion in a Florida federal court for an injunction directing Twitter to reinstate his social media account after it was suspended in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The order filed in the Southern District of Florida on Oct. 1 contends that Twitter’s decision to de-platform the former president is a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech, as well as a violation of a new Florida law called the Stop Social Media Censorship Act.
“(The) defendant exercises a degree of power and control over political discourse in this country that is immeasurable, historically unprecedented and profoundly dangerous to open democratic debate,” the motion states.
CCIA President Matt Schruers
| Computer & Communication Industry Association
Twitter’s action amounts to prior restraint on free expression, according to the motion, which alleges that the social media company was coerced into de-platforming Trump by members of Congress after the events of Jan. 6.
A Twitter spokesman declined to comment on the legal filing, but a group that advocates for the information and communications technology industry, the Computer & Communication Industry Association (CCIA), said tech companies have a constitutional right to manage their platforms and root out abusers.
“Private companies taking action against bad actors that misuse their services to incite violence have a First Amendment right to do so – even when the bad actor that engaged in misconduct is the president of the United States,” CCIA President Matt Schruers said in an email to the Florida Record.
Similarly, accepted principles of free speech protect entities such as app stores and web hosts that attempt to police misconduct, according to Schruers.
“The First Amendment does not protect the government from members of the public; it protects members of the public from the government,” he said.
In addition, the 1996 Telecommunications Act allows digital services to deal with bad actors without having to face the threat of lawsuits, according to Schruers.
As a result of a federal court ruling in June, the Florida law mentioned as a basis for the proposed preliminary injunction against Twitter was itself enjoined due to an earlier legal action filed by CCIA and the advocacy group NetChoice. That law, which attempted to regulate social media companies’ efforts to deal with disinformation, violated the First Amendment and federal laws, a district judge concluded.