Judge: Twitter Banning Donald Trump Isn't a First Amendment Issue
US District Judge James Donato has dismissed former president Donald Trump's lawsuit against Twitter for permanently banning him after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.
Trump sued Twitter with the intent of regaining access to his account in October 2021. The complaint alleged that banning Trump from the platform violated his First Amendment rights and ran afoul of a Florida law meant to prevent companies from "deplatforming" politicians.
Twitter responded in December 2021 by saying the government "cannot force the private operator of an online platform, such as Twitter, to disseminate speech with which the operator disagrees." (Which is far more likely to be a violation of the First Amendment than Trump's ban.)
Judge Donato seems to agree. He dismissed the complaint on May 6 because "the amended complaint does not plausibly allege that Twitter acted as a government entity when it closed plaintiffs’ accounts," which is the only way Trump's ban could be deemed unconstitutional.
The dismissal also notes that Florida's deplatforming law probably wouldn't apply to this case because Twitter is based in California. Not that it makes too much of a difference, of course, because a Florida judge issued a temporary injunction against the law in June 2021.
These factors (among others) led Judge Donato to dismiss the complaint in its entirety. Trump's lawyers have until May 27 to file an amended complaint, but Donato says "the amended complaint may not add any new claims or defendants without express prior leave of Court," and that "plaintiffs are advised that further opportunities to amend are not likely to be granted."
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