DALLAS (AP) – Twitter has filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Proxton, alleging that the Republican used his office to retaliate because he banned former President Donald Trump’s bill after the riot. at the American Capitol.
Days after the deadly uprising in January, Paxton announced an investigation into Twitter and four other major technology companies for what he calls “the seemingly coordinated deployment of the president.” The Attorney General’s Office demanded that the companies set a variety of records related to their content moderation policies and a series of internal communications.
Twitter responded on Monday with a federal lawsuit alleging that Paxton wanted to punish it for taking Trump’s account offline – a decision that, according to the social media company, is free speech. It asks a judge to declare that the decision falls within the scope of the First Amendment, and to essentially discontinue Paxton’s investigation.
“Paxton has made it clear that he will use the full weight of his office, including his extensive investigative powers, to retaliate against Twitter for making editorial decisions with which he disagrees,” company lawyers wrote in the case. was filed in Northern California court. .
Spokesmen for Paxton’s office on Monday night did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The inconsistency of Twitter comes because states, in addition to federal lawmakers and governments outside the U.S., are also fighting technology companies that they say have gained too much power in the past decade. These include antitrust and antitrust regulation, internet privacy laws, as well as attempts to regulate how platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and others moderate their websites.
In December, Paxton led ten Republican attorneys general by suing Google for allegedly operating an illegal monopoly on digital advertising on Facebook.
IDP politicians in about two dozen states have also introduced bills that allow civil lawsuits against platforms for what they call the ‘censorship’ of posts. Almost always, this means what they consider to be the censorship of conservative or Christian religious views.
While there is no evidence that tech companies are biased against conservatives, the narrative has been popular with Republicans since President Trump was elected and has only gotten tougher during his term. Trump is banned from Twitter for life and temporarily suspended from Facebook after inciting the January 6 riots only intensified it.
At the outset of his inquiry, Paxton quoted the first amendment as saying that banning Trump’s technology ventures was cooling free speech and silencing those who disagreed with them.
However, Twitter – as well as the other companies that Paxton has targeted, including Facebook, Apple, Google and Amazon – is a private company, so the first amendment does not apply to its decisions on what materials should be allowed for its services. Unlike the government, Twitter may silence people. The company has long given Trump and other world leaders exemption from his rules against personal attacks, hate speech and other behaviors. But after five people were killed during the Capitol riots, the company said Trump’s tweets amounted to glorifying violence as plans spread online for future armed protests surrounding the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
Twitter’s lawsuit comes because Paxton faces other legal challenges, including an FBI investigation into allegations that he used his office to benefit a wealthy donor.
He is also awaiting trial on charges related to security fraud dating back to 2015. Paxton pleaded not guilty and the case has been pending for years due to legal challenges.
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Ortutay reports from Oakland, California.