Trump Announces Class-Action Lawsuit Against Social Media

In a press conference Wednesday, Donald Trump declared his intention to sue Google, Facebook, and Twitter. He reiterated his longstanding complaint that media companies have rules that users must follow, and in particular, that he was eventually held to some of the same standards enforced as a matter of course for most users.

In the clip below, Donald Trump can be seen at his press conference announcing the lawsuits, complaining about “blacklisting, banishing, and canceling.”

Former President Trump announces "major class-action lawsuit" against Facebook, Twitter, and Google, demanding “a stop to the blacklisting, banishing, and canceling that you know so well.” pic.twitter.com/f8FbIU5bjv

— The Recount (@therecount) July 7, 2021

Trump made it through most of his presidency before he was actually seriously subjected to any real consequences for breaking social media rules. When the first mild wrist-swats came, they consisted of Twitter adding disclaimers to tweets that blatantly misled viewers about election procedures or glorified violence.

Yes, that’s the (then) President of the United States declaring that “when the looting starts the shooting starts” — speaking of targeting American citizens without the benefit of trial.

Finally, with social media entities already considering dumping Trump as soon as he left office, he used their sites to help incite an insurrection, and was immediately removed from sites including Twitter and Facebook.

Now, with the reach of his rants suffering for lack of access, Trump has reportedly considered other far-right sites as a replacement for his Twitter habit, but ultimately seems to have fallen back on demanding that private corporations bow to his whims, sacrifice their control over their networks, and let him return to use their platforms as he chooses, without regard for terms of service.