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California court dismisses Donald Trump's plea to reverse Twitter ban
Trump had initially filed the suit in Florida but was later moved to California (Photo credit: CNN)

California court dismisses Donald Trump's plea to reverse Twitter ban

May 07, 2022
07:01 pm

What's the story

Former US President Donald Trump's attempts to reverse his Twitter ban received a setback as a California district judge dismissed his lawsuit. Judge James Donato noted that the ban appears to be legal, but gave Trump and a group of other banned users time till May 27 to file an amended complaint. Trump was banned from Twitter in January 2021.

Context

Why does this story matter?

Elon Musk's ongoing acquisition of Twitter has brought several questions to the fore. One of the most asked ones is whether he will revisit Trump's permanent ban. Well, that's a question for another day as Trump has now failed to get legal recourse against the microblogging platform. It seems the former US President will have to depend on Musk after all.

Why

Trump permanently banned for encouraging US Capitol rioters

During his tenure as the President of the US, Donald Trump had made a name for himself as a prolific yet controversial tweeter. He was banned for encouraging rioters who stormed the US Capitol with a series of tweets in January 2021. Later, Twitter explained through a blog post that it permanently removed Trump due to the "risk of further incitement of violence."

Information

Trump accused Twitter of violating his First Amendment rights

Trump claimed in his petition that Twitter violated his right to freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. He also contended that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was unconstitutional.

Court order

The court disregarded all claims put forward by Trump

In response to Trump's allegation about the First Amendment violation, the court held Twitter wasn't a government body and the same wouldn't apply to it. Trump's Section 230 argument wasn't considered as he was unable to prove the connection between the law and the ban. The court also noted Twitter's ToS gives it the right to terminate any account for any or no reason.

What's next

Trump cannot add fresh claims to the amended filing

While the court has allowed Trump and the other banned Twitter users to submit an amended complaint, he won't be allowed to add new claims to the amended filing. As far as the result of the trial goes, nothing short of a drastic change in the judge's reasoning can get him a different result.