Twitter Seeks Dismissal Of Right-Wing Activist's Racketeering Lawsuit

Twitter is urging a federal judge to throw out conservative activist Laura Loomer's most recent lawsuit over her account ban, arguing that Loomer previously sued -- and lost -- over the same claims.

“Loomer has already twice pursued legal actions against Twitter to overturn her ban,” Twitter's lawyers argue in papers filed Monday with U.S. District Court Magistrate Laurel Beeler in San Francisco. “Because a plaintiff cannot file suit in a new court seeking redress for the same harm she sought to remedy in her prior failed litigation, Loomer’s suit is barred, and the court should dismiss it with prejudice.”

The move comes three months after Loomer filed a new lawsuit against Twitter and Meta for banning her. She alleges that she was permanently banned by Twitter in November of 2018, and Facebook in May of 2019.

Loomer, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2000, also said Facebook took down her campaign page in November of 2019, one day after it was created.

In a sweeping 133-page complaint filed this May, the Florida resident and political candidate appears to claim that Facebook's and Twitter's hate-speech policies violate federal racketeering laws. The complaint seeks $10 billion in damages.

Loomer's complaint contains numerous mentions related to content-moderation decisions made by Facebook and Twitter -- most of which don't directly involve her posts.

She previously claimed in a 2019 federal lawsuit that Twitter, Google, Facebook and Apple violated antitrust laws by conspiring to suppress conservative views.

U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington, D.C. dismissed that complaint soon after it was filed. He said at the time that the concerns raised in the case were “non-trivial,” but didn't amount to grounds for a lawsuit.

Loomer appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against her in 2020. That court said only the government -- and not private companies like Google, Apple, Twitter and Facebook -- are bound by the First Amendment's prohibition against suppressing speech based on viewpoint.

Loomer then unsuccessfully asked the Supreme Court to review the matter.

She also filed a separate lawsuit against Twitter in Florida in 2019 -- also related to the account ban -- but voluntarily dismissed her claims against the company in that matter.

Twitter also says Loomer's new lawsuit should be dismissed on the grounds that decisions about how to treat users' posts are protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

“Because Loomer’s Complaint is premised entirely on Twitter’s third-party content moderation decisions, it cannot be amended to avoid Section 230 and should be dismissed with prejudice,” Twitter writes.

1 comment about "Twitter Seeks Dismissal Of Right-Wing Activist's Racketeering Lawsuit".
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  1. John Grono from GAP Research, August 9, 2022 at 10:24 p.m.

    Maybe a walk down the Hall of Mirrors might help.

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