Lawsuit contends Google, social media have no right to censor

The full District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals is being asked to take up a case that alleges social media companies, including Google and Facebook, are a "place of public accommodation," meaning they are not allowed to censor conservative content.

Lawyer Larry Klayman, the founder of Freedom Watch and a former federal prosecutor who was on the trial team that broke up the AT&T monopoly, has filed a petition for rehearing on behalf of Freedom Watch and client Laura Loomer.

"It asks the full appellate court to overturn the dismissal of their class action complaint against social media companies for restraint of trade, attempted monopolization and illegal political discrimination in a public forum against conservatives, libertarians and people of faith, as the law in the District of Columbia forbids such discrimination," he said.

"The three judge panel who originally heard the case issued a very short opinion affirming the lower court's dismissal by a Trump appointed judge, Trevor McFadden, who improperly deep sixed the case because he took it upon himself, rather than allowing it to go to discovery and then a jury trial, to decide it was not plausible. However, contrary to Judge McFadden's improper dismissal, the Antitrust Division, my alma mater, does find it plausible and is about to file a similar suit against Google," Klayman explained in a statement on the case.

"In this age of coronavirus and radical leftist attacks, looting and killing in physical places, the only interpretation of D.C. law is also that such discrimination is prohibited on the internet, which is exactly what Google/YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Apple have been doing, to further their leftist desire to harm anyone who supports President Trump and Republican candidates, as well as publishes conservative, libertarian and faith based content in general," he said.

Loomer, who has been targeted by social media bans, said: "My legal battle against the Silicon Valley Big Tech Tyrants is America’s battle. For far too long, these companies have been silencing peaceful political speech in an effort to support the political agenda of Left. The massive censorship and cancel culture campaign these companies are currently participating in through an anti-competitive and discriminatory collaboration is primarily being used as tool to target and silence conservatives and supporters of President Trump in an effort to help the Democrats win the 2020 election."

The filing argues there is a motive behind the censorship of Loomer and others conservatives.

"The aim of this conspiracy to suppress politically conservative content is to 'take down President Donald Trump' and his administration with the intent and purpose to have installed leftist government in the nation's capital and the 50 states," the brief says.

It cites others who have been targeted, such as Prager University and InfoWars.

It quotes a Facebook official admitting the company has "a point of view."

"We are, for the first time in the history of Facebook, taking a step to try to define what 'quality news' looks like and give that a boost," said Facebook's head of news partnerships, Campbell Brown.

"Loomer is a well known conservative investigative journalist and activism, and a Jewish woman. Ms. Loomer relied heavily on social media platforms in order to perform her work as a journalist, with over 260,000 followers on Twitter as of November 21, 2018," the filing explains.

Then she was banned.

The case raises both First Amendment and antitrust claims.

"This case is not just about Freedom Watch and Ms. Loomer, but all Americans who desire to exercise their rights of free speech, free from the illegal and anti-competitive practices of giant social media companies," the filing says.