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