Trump files a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and Google for censoring him, demands an end to Big Tech's 'silencing and blacklisting' of conservative voices and calls for punitive damages for 'cancel culture' victims
Former President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday he was launching a class action law suit against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on behalf of victims of 'cancel culture.'
He demanded the end of 'shadow banning,' and 'blacklisting' as he stood in the blazing sun, using his Bedminster golf course clubhouse as a backdrop.
'In addition, we are asking the court to impose punitive damages on these social media giants,' he said. 'We're going to hold big tech very accountable.'
Trump will serve as the lead plaintiff in the suit, claiming he has been wrongfully censored, he added.
His lawyers say they will argue that Congress has frequently pressured Big Tech to take action on conservatives, making them 'agents of government' and therefore subject to the First Amendment.
The legal moves are backed by the America First Policy Institute, a non-profit that includes several former senior administration officials.
Trump accused the mainstream media and politicians of cozying up to big tech.
'There is no better evidence that big tech is out of control than the fact that they banned the sitting President of the United States earlier this year, a ban that continues to this day,' he said.
He contrasted his position with hate speech coming from Iran and Palestinian hardliners.
'Hamas, as I said, the greatest killers in the world, have a site,' he said, saying the tweet that got him banned was innocuous.
Donald Trump announced class action lawsuits against Twitter, Facebook Google and their chief executives on behalf of users who have been banned at an event at his New Jersey golf club. He also said he was seeking punitive damages
Trump introduced other members of the class action suit who had also been kicked off social media. His team has set up a website for other people to sign on
Trump addressed a group of reporters whose numbers were bolstered by a handful of supporters in 96F temperatures on Wednesday morning
Former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council Brooke Rollins claimed America's liberal elites saw the First Amendment as an obstacle to achieving their goals when she spoke at the event launching the lawsuit
Journalists gathered in from of the clubhouse at Trump's Bedminster golf club. Trump is due to appear at 11am. The house once belonged to disgraced automobile executive John Delorean
'Get the quote, you won't believe it.
'But these people call for the destruction of Israel, the destruction of the USA, nothing happens to them.'
Linda McMahon, former Small Business Administrator under Trump and chairwoman of the America First Policy Institute, and Brooke Rollins, former acting director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and other leading conservatives joined him for the announcement.
Trump advisers had previously suggested that he would make an announcement about a new social media platform during the Fourth of July weekend, but it is understood that remains a work in progress.
The legal actions would allow him to sue Zuckerberg, Dorsey, and Pichai on behalf of a group that claims they have been silenced because of their politics.
The suits seek unspecified punitive damages but Trump said he believed the companies were potentially liable for trillions of dollars.
Rollins launched the event, saying: 'There's no topic on which they, the elites, the big firms the progressives the officeholders and the bureaucrats... there's no other topic that they are seeing as a bigger obstacle to achieve their ambitions, than the First Amendment.'
And she said people could sign on for the lawsuit at takeonbigtech.com.
Trump is still banned from using both the social media giants because of his comments in the wake of the Capitol riot.
His team has repeatedly claimed he has been silenced because he is conservative, but the social media giants say it is for safety reasons in the wake of January 6.
Trump accused the mainstream media and politicians of cozying up to big tech. 'There is no better evidence that big tech is out of control than the fact that they banned the sitting President of the United States earlier this year, a ban that continues to this day,' he said
Lawyers listen as Trump announces his suit against Facebook, Twitter and Google. Their strategy will be to demonstrate that Big Tech acted as an 'agent of government' and so was bound by Constitutional free-speech protections
The legal actions would allow him to sue Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on behalf of a group that claims they have been silenced because of their policies
The two tweets that got Trump banned by Twitter. The social media platform said the comments fell foul of its Glorification of Violence Policy and that it would suspend him immediately. The second tweet, it said, may serve as encouragement to those considering violent acts that the inauguration would be a 'safe' target, as Trump would not be attending
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