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We Can’t Decide What’s The Funniest Part Of Trump’s Lawsuit Against Social Media

Lydia Wang
Last Updated July 7, 2021, 8:20 PM
Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.
During a Wednesday press conference, former social media celebrity Donald Trump announced another new lawsuit where he reminded the American public that, no, he still doesn't understand the U.S. Constitution. Trump, who remains banned from several social media platforms, argued that CEOs like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey are censoring him and violating his right to free speech via the First Amendment. Social media's response? His "beautiful" lawsuit makes no sense.
Addressing a crowd from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said that his suit will be "the first of many other lawsuits" against social media giants. "We're demanding an end to the shadow-banning, a stop to the silencing, and a stop to the blacklisting, banishing, and canceling that you know so well," he said. "Our case will prove this censorship is unlawful."
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Except… it isn't, according to lawyers, analysts, and everyday people who are still allowed to tweet. Twitter and Facebook are private companies, and they are allowed to delete the accounts of unruly users at their discretion. After hearing Trump's bizarre speech, many people started pointing out the absurdity of his claims and the language used in the suit. Between his lawyers' AOL email addresses and his claims that Facebook is actually the government (meaning his own government silenced him back in January), it's hard to pinpoint the most confusing part of Trump's latest meltdown. But the internet still tried.
Ultimately, though, the best part of the Twitter reactions might be the many lawyers rushing to painstakingly point out all the legal and logical holes in Trump's argument.
"I think this is just a public relations lawsuit," Vanderbilt University Law professor Brian Fitzpatrick told CNBC. Some other experts suggested it was just a money grab since he sent out a fundraising text blast immediately after the press conference. But according to Fitzpatrick, this whole mess might end with action taken against Trump's lawyers "for filing a frivolous lawsuit."
Trump was removed from Twitter and Facebook after repeatedly claiming the 2020 election was "stolen" and inciting his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6. In June, Facebook announced that he would not be able to return to the platform until 2023; Twitter, meanwhile, has permanently suspended Trump's account. Clearly, he hasn't been having a good time without his beloved apps: He tried to create a blog but deleted it just 29 days later, reportedly upset by a lack of engagement.
Maybe, instead of tweeting or blogging, he should just focus on all those lawsuits he's facing. Or reread the Constitution. Whatever.

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