Twitter has sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alleging that the Republican used his office to retaliate against it for blocking former President Donald Trump's account after the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Twitter filed a lawsuit against Texas AG
Paxton launched an investigation into Twitter and four other big media platforms days after the deadly insurgency over what he termed "the apparently orchestrated de-platforming of the President." The attorney general's office recommended that the companies turn over a series of documents, including internal correspondence and content moderation practices, as per the Independent.
Twitter replied with a federal complaint on Monday, saying Paxton is attempting to prosecute it for deactivating Trump's account. The social media giant claims were made in the name of free speech. It requests that a judge find the decision to be beyond the scope of the First Amendment, effectively halting Paxton's investigation.
"Paxton made clear that he would use the full force of his position, including his broad investigative authority, to discriminate against Twitter for making editorial decisions with which he disagrees," the company's attorneys wrote in a lawsuit filed in Northern California.
Lawmakers crackdown on tech giants, including Twitter
A request for comment Monday evening from Paxton's office was not immediately returned. Meanwhile, states and federal lawmakers and governments outside the United States are cracking down on tech giants that they believe have accumulated so much leverage in the last decade. This covers antitrust and anti-monopoly regulations, internet privacy rules, and efforts to control how social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook moderate their pages.
Paxton was one of ten Republican attorney generals who sued Google in December for supposedly operating an unconstitutional digital-advertising monopoly in collusion with Facebook.
Trump was indefinitely barred from Twitter on January 8 due to the possibility of him inciting violence. Trump has previously used his Twitter account to allege systemic voter fraud in 2020. Numerous participants in the January 6 insurgency at the Capitol cited his false charges as motivation, as per Newsweek.
Though there is no proof that tech giants are biased towards conservatives, the narrative has been popular among Republicans long before Trump's election and has only become louder during his presidency. After inciting the Capitol protests on January 6, Trump was barred from Twitter for life and temporarily suspended from Facebook.
Texas AG previously sued Twitter and other tech giants
Paxton referenced the First Amendment in conducting his investigation, claiming that tech giants' exclusion of Trump "chills free speech" and "completely silences" those who disagree with them. However, since Twitter, like the other firms threatened by Paxton, such as Facebook, Apple, Google, and Amazon, is a private company, the First Amendment does not extend to its decisions on what content to allow on its platforms.
Twitter, unlike the government, has the authority to silence users. Trump and other world leaders have long been excluded from the company's laws regarding personal threats, hate words, and other activities. However, after five people were killed in the Capitol riot, the organization said Trump's tweets contributed to the glorification of crime, as plans for potentially armed demonstrations during President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration circulated online.
According to AP News, Paxton is now facing several legal issues, including an FBI probe into allegations that he used his office to help a rich donor. Besides, he is facing allegations of unrelated securities fraud dating back to 2015. Paxton has pleaded not guilty, and the matter has been held in court for years due to procedural issues.
