Sanders Supporters Sue Twitter Over Account Suspensions

Two Bernie Sanders supporters who were kicked off Twitter four years ago are now suing the company for allegedly failing to restore their accounts.

Attorneys Jared Beck and Elizabeth Lee Beck -- who are suing under the company name “Don't Tread On Us,” and previously tweeted @jaredbeck and @eleebeck -- say their accounts were permanently suspended in January of 2019 due to tweets critical of Kamala Harris, who was then seeking the Democratic nomination for president.

The Becks previously sued the Democratic National Committee for allegedly rigging the primaries in favor of Hillary Clinton. That matter was dismissed in 2017.

The duo allege in the complaint against Twitter that CEO Elon Musk, who took over the company last year, violated a promise to reinstate everyone who had been suspended by the former management.

They point to Musk's November 2022 statement on Twitter that he would offer a “general amnesty” to suspended accounts, provided they hadn't “broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.”

“Regardless of whether Twitter had the contractual and/or statutory right to suspend Mr. and Mrs. Beck’s Twitter accounts at the time, the general amnesty announced by Twitter’s CEO on November 24, 2022, applies to them because Mr. and Mrs. Beck have never broken the law or engaged in egregious spam with their Twitter accounts, nor have they even been alleged to have done so,” their complaint alleges.

The Becks initially sued in Florida state court earlier this year. The case was transferred on Thursday to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

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