Twitter sues Texas AG, claiming retaliation for Trump ban

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

DALLAS (AP) — Twitter has filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, claiming the Republican used his office to retaliate against it for banning the account of former President Donald Trump following the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Days after the deadly January insurrection, Paxton announced an investigation into Twitter and four other major technology companies for what he called “the seemingly coordinated de-platforming of the President.” The attorney general's office demanded that the companies produce a variety of records related to their content moderation policies and troves of internal communications.

Twitter responded Monday with a federal lawsuit alleging Paxton is seeking to punish it for taking Trump's account offline — a decision the social media company says is protected free speech. It asks a judge to declare the decision to be under the gambit of the First Amendment and to, in essence, halt Paxton's investigation.

“Paxton made clear that he will use the full weight of his office, including his expansive investigatory powers, to retaliate against Twitter for having made editorial decisions with which he disagrees,” lawyers for the company wrote in the suit filed in a Northern California court.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-03-08/twitter-sues-texas-ag-claiming-retaliation-for-trump-ban

[soothsayer]

1. Why is that crook still there??

[Comfortably_Numb]

12. It's Texas... indicted felons in charge of law enforcement is no big deal.

[soothsayer]

17. Oh, right. I forgot!

[AKwannabe]

2. Seemingly coordinated

OR

In response to the fucking failed take over of the Capitol of the US and the idiot’s responses on Twitter.

Hope Twitter prevails.

[Cha]

3. GO TWITTER!!!

[yellowdogintexas]

4. GEEZ wonder how it feels to have the shoe on the other foot!!

Karma!

Serves the jerk right

[SunSeeker]

5. Glad Twitter is suing his stupid ass. He is clearly violating Twitter's 1st Am rights.

Hope Twitter takes Paxton's depo and makes it public.

[Dan]

6. What "Standing" does the Texas AG have in this?

[SunSeeker]

7. The Texas AG hasn't sued Twitter; he's (mis)using the powers of his office to hit at Twitter.

The Texas AG is investigating Twitter, which does not have the save legal standing rules as those for bringing a lawsuit.

[KS Toronado]

8. After twitter wins their lawsuit, hope any $$$ comes out of Paxton's pockets

and not from taxes paid by citizens of Texas

[Justice matters.]

9. Looks like that other white-supRemancist AG didn't study the Constitution...

However, Twitter — as well as the other companies Paxton targeted, including Facebook, Apple, Google and Amazon — is a private firm, so the First Amendment does not apply to its decisions on what material to allow on its services. Unlike the government, Twitter is allowed to silence people. The company had long given Trump and other world leaders broad exemptions from its rules against personal attacks, hate speech and other behaviors. But after five people were killed at the Capitol riot, the company said Trump's tweets amounted to glorification of violence while plans were circulating online for future armed protests around the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

[Ohio Dem]

10. Exactly! These people REALLY don't understand the First Amendment.

A private company can dictate its own rules regarding speech, because they aren't the government. Banning Trump is well within their rights. The government, on the other hand, can't, with some exceptions.

It's perfectly fine for MLB to strip a racist like Marge Schott of her team, and for the Clippers in the NBA to do likewise with that asshole whose name escapes me. They aren't the government. I always tell people all worried about their "right to free speech" that the rule of thumb is, simply, if they weren't arrested, then the First Amendment doesn't apply.

Ask the Dixie Chicks.

[Roy Rolling]

11. The Courts

State AGs think they own the court system. Pushback from entities like Dominican Voting Systems is changing that dynamic $1.3 billion at a time.

[intheflow]

13. Sorry, Paxton. It was Republicans who pushed for Citizen's United.

That paved the way for Twitter to be able to claim first amendment violation. Because corporations are people!

I still hate Citizen United, but I'm loving how it's coming back to bite Repukes in the ass!

[dalton99a]

14. Kick

[Maxheader]

15. ken , ken..give it up.

It's over. Spend your energy helping your voters pay their utilities.

Scum bag...

[apnu]

16. Republicans, happy to defend a company not making cakes for a gay couple, but goes after Twitter

By the GOP's own rhetoric: a private company is free to decide it won't serve patrons.

Republicans won't let a day go by without displaying their hypocrisy.