Democracy Dies in Darkness

Judge dismisses Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter

The former president accused the social network of violating the First Amendment by suspending his account after Jan. 6

May 6, 2022 at 6:35 p.m. EDT
Donald Trump at an April rally in Delaware, Ohio. (Eli Hiller/Bloomberg News)
3 min

A California judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit that Donald Trump filed against Twitter, the latest blow to the former president’s high-profile battles with major tech companies over their decisions to suspend his accounts in the fallout of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The lawsuit, which Trump initially filed last year in Florida along with suits targeting Google and Facebook, was viewed as part of a broader strategy to appeal to conservatives who have long argued that social media companies unfairly censor their viewpoints. The judge’s dismissal comes after Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced his plans to buy Twitter, taking issue over content moderation decisions he views as limiting free speech — and raising speculation that Trump could return to the platform.