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Trump’s Latest Fundraiser? He’s Suing Facebook, Twitter, and Google.

Danielle from Leaf and Core
Reading Time: 5 minutes.
Tear Gas outside United States Capitol, January 6th, 2021. A Trump flag is in the foreground.

Insurrection at the capitol, 1/6/2021. Photo credit: Tyler Merbler, via Wikipedia, CC 2.0 license.

In a move that has legal scholars laughing, Donald Trump is trying to sue Facebook, Twitter, and Google for violating his free speech… while he was in control of the government. For those not in on the joke, free speech is a right guaranteed by the U.S. government. It’s not something you can get from citizens. So, for example, you don’t have the right to go outside of your neighbor’s house and shout obscenities at them at 4 in the morning. You don’t have the right to sit down at a Denny’s in a booth with a megaphone and read Mein Kampf. No, really. Even if you bought a delicious Grand Slam breakfast combo, you still can get kicked out and arrested for trespassing if you sit in a booth shouting into a megaphone.

In other words, Donald Trump was in charge of the only organization that could violate your free speech: the U.S. government.

But there’s another layer to this joke. You see, what Donald Trump got banned for was leading the charge of violence against our elected officials. He incited a violent coup attempt that resulted in casualties, injuries, and many arrests. What Donald Trump did got him impeached, and, had he been a private citizen at the time, not protected by the entirety of the GOP, he’d be behind bars for the rest of his life.

So Trump’s suing Google, Facebook, and Twitter for… not helping him kill more people. That’s absurd. But it’s less crazy when you see it for what it is: a rallying cry… for fundraising money.

Trump’s “Lawsuits”

Donald Trump is famous for what most would describe as “SLAPP” suits. If you don’t know what those are, it is my absolute pleasure to present this video explaining it to you. Basically, they’re frivolous lawsuits made to waste people’s time and scare victims into silence. This isn’t necessarily a SLAPP suit, after all, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube all have the money to stand up to Trump. However, it is a frivolous lawsuit with ulterior motives. Here’s what Trump’s doing and why it’s absolutely pointless.

“Everything in these complaints is preposterous, which should not come as a surprise given Trump’s affinity for filing frivolous lawsuits.”

– Andrew Jaw Schwartzman, senior counselor for the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Trump Banned

After inciting the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube took action. Too little too late, frankly. They all banned Donald Trump. Twitter’s ban is permanent. Facebook has since announced that they may allow Trump back in time for the 2024 election. YouTube, on the other hand, still maintains an indefinite ban. They’ll only allow Trump back once they believe he is no longer a threat to civility and won’t inspire violence. In other words, it’ll be a permanent ban if YouTube sticks to what they’ve said. In reality, they’ll likely want his money for his 2024 run, and allow him back again sometime around then.

Don’t forget, despite a long history of racism and encouraging violence, YouTube still allowed Trump to buy out all of their ad space leading up to the 2020 election. It was after losing that election that Trump inspired his goons to attack elected officials at the Capitol, leading to deaths, injuries, and the worst undermining of American democracy ever.

Businesses Have Rights

Let’s say you hate Walmart. Right there with you, pal! However, Walmart doesn’t have to let you parade through the building with a megaphone, telling shoppers to shoplift and attack the salespeople if they get in your way. Denny’s doesn’t have to allow you to stand on top of a table and shout that their pancakes are actually made from aborted fetus stem cells. Not only would that be false, slandering an American staple of breakfast, but it would also get you banned from Denny’s. Imagine how heartbreaking that would be.

You have free speech, but you don’t ever get to use your rights to infringe on the rights of others. Businesses can control who is in their establishment. While they can’t discriminate, they can choose to ban violent and disruptive customers. Otherwise our society simply won’t work.

The same goes for online businesses. They have a right to protect their users. They can ban pedophilia, terrorism, and calls to violence. For the safety of both their users and the public at large, companies can act how they see fit. Trump riled up a group of terrorists to attack the Capitol. That’s an immensely ban-worthy act. If any other user did that, they could be arrested. Instead, Trump was still the president, so he was only impeached.

Wants to Declare Section 230 Unconstitutional and Social Networks as Utilities

This is a lot to unpack. First, Section 230 keeps the web around. Without it, no one would want to host user-generated content, for the chance of being liable for what a user posts. If websites are afraid they could be sued for something their users share, they simply will have to shut down.

Secondly, Trump claims that social networks should be classified as utilities. This would allow the government to regulate them in that networks would have to host everything. Here’s where there’s some confusion: Republicans have been against this. Republicans fought classification of the internet as a utility because it would have enforced net neutrality. The internet is a utility, it’s necessary for modern life. However, social networks are not. If they were declared utilities, it would be next to impossible to keep the internet itself from also being classified as a utility. In other words, if Trump wins, Republicans and telecoms will lose.

Fortunately, none of them have anything to worry about.

Trump’s Free Speech Intact

Trump still has his first amendment rights. The government has not stopped him. In fact, he’s still holding press conferences, he spoke at conservative events, and he had a failed blog that lasted less than a month because no one actually wants to hear him speak. His followers like the idea of a brash, racist, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, xenophobic authoritarian leader, but understand that he sounds like an idiot. They love what Trump represents, they don’t actually hang on his every word. With Trump off social media, he’s realized that he was really only “popular” for the controversy he could start. It’s harder to do that now, but controversy is what this lawsuit is really all about anyway.

As further proof that no one has silenced Donald Trump, I present this blog post, and all of the many others stories reporting about this ridiculous lawsuit.

Trump is Fundraising

A gallows hangs near the United States Capitol during the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol. Photo: Tyler Merbler, via Wikipedia and the CC 2.0 license.

Trump needs money. Besides considering a 2024 campaign, he has a number of lawsuits to worry about. From tax fraud to slander over his denial of a rape allegation. Trump’s in deep. Perhaps that’s why donations to Trump have largely gone to his legal defense, not his campaign.

Trump needs drama to collect funds. His popularity comes from how upset rational people get when Trump does something horrific. This is a perfect example of that. Shortly after his press conference, Trump already began soliciting donations based on the proposed lawsuits.

This is what Trump’s lawsuits are really about. Trump has no hope of winning anything. However, he does need the money, and a publicity stunt like this is perfect for getting his followers to send the supposed millionaire more money.

As Dangerous as Ever

Even without social networks, Trump’s as dangerous as ever. Sure, this lawsuit won’t amount to much, but it’s not about that. This is about riling up his troops. For donations, certainly, but also to stay relevant. Without Trump, the GOP could go back to simply non-violently dismantling democracy through voting restrictions, Gerrymandering, and the Electoral College. Many mainstream Republicans want to go back to an America that isn’t always on the verge of violence. But that can’t happen with Trump soaking up the spotlight. Trump knows that if he doesn’t stay relevant, his political career and the power and money that comes from it, could all disappear.

Trump’s rallying his troops, and, if it works, January 6th may just be one of many attacks against the American people from Trump’s followers.

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