Donald Trump, now a private individual, has filed a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, and Google following their ban on the former president in January after the attack on Capitol Hill. The decision to file the lawsuit was announced by the former POTUS himself at a press conference held yesterday at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
"I stand before you this morning to announce a very important and beautiful, I think, development for our freedom and our freedom of speech, and that goes to all Americans," the 75 year old Republican leader said, as reported by The Federalist.
"Today, in conjunction with the America First Policy Institute, I am filing as the lead class representative a major class-action lawsuit against the Big Tech giants, including Facebook, Google, and Twitter, as well as their CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, and Jack Dorsey."
"Three real nice guys," former President Trump mused as the crowd applauded him.
Following the attack on Capitol Hill on January 6, Trump was permanently banned from Twitter and "indefinitely" suspended from Facebook. In May, Facebook's Oversight Board decided to uphold the company's decision to ban the former president.
Trump was also banned from Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. Reddit had banned the subreddit group r/DonaldTrump, while Snapchat suspended the former president's account as well. Google, which owns YouTube, suspended Trump's channel as well.
"Social media has given extraordinary power to a group of Big Tech giants that are working with government, the mainstream media, and a large segment of a political party to silence and suppress the views of the American people," Trump decried the companies behind the largest social media platforms during his speech.
Along with the former president's lawsuit against Big Tech companies, House Republicans are also teaming up to beef up their antitrust framework against these companies to combat censorship.
According to CNBC, the House Judiciary Committee Republicans led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio released a "road map for new legislation aimed at Big Tech power." The framework follows six bipartisan antitrust bills that were voted to be advanced by the House after 20 hours of debate.
"Big Tech has targeted conservatives for far too long. House Judiciary Republicans have had enough," Rep. Jordan said, as reported by Yahoo! News. "We believe that this agenda will serve as the Republican platform to take on Big Tech going forward and unite our party to reject Big Tech's 'cancel culture' practices."
Republican leaders are looking to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, a law that protects online platforms from any lawsuits that may be brought about by user content. They also intend to propose a measure that will require Big Tech to "make their content moderation decision and censorship actions publicly available." Under the agenda, the leaders are looking to "break up" Big Tech by "expediting trial court consideration of antitrust cases."
"The American people's birthright of freedom must prevail against Big Tech and other forces that seek to destroy it," Trump declared, as per the Western Journal. "Through this lawsuit, we are standing up for American democracy by standing up for free speech rights of every American."
