July 8, 2021

Former President of the United States, Donald Trump, recently announced that he would sue Twitter, Facebook and YouTube over the suspension of his account, which took place after his supporters invaded the Capitol on January 6.

In a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Florida, Trump accuses the companies of violating his First Amendment rights.

It also accuses companies of behaving like “state actors,” rather than like private companies, imposing restrictions on what people can post.

While Trump wants the court to order the companies to reinstate him and other members of the proposed plaintiff group, he also wants the court to declare a federal law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, stating that online sites are largely not legally responsible for what their users post.

Experts say Trump’s lawsuits are likely to fail because of the protections that both Section 230 and the First Amendment give companies the power to decide what speech they allow.

For more information, read the original story in NPR.