
Far-right activist Laura Loomer is
asking the Supreme Court to revive her lawsuit against Meta Platforms, X, Procter & Gamble and others over the alleged "censorship" of her online speech.
Loomer's counsel
argues in a petition docketed with the Supreme Court on Monday
that the case "presents a critical opportunity" for the court to address issues such as how racketeering laws apply to "alleged coordinated censorship by social media platforms."
The petition marks the latest development in a lawsuit dating to 2022, when Loomer claimed in a sprawling complaint that Meta and X (formerly Twitter) engaged in a racketeering
conspiracy by banning her over alleged violations of their content policies. She later amended her complaint by claiming that Procter & Gamble was part of the alleged conspiracy because it
supposedly threatened to stop running ads on Meta unless it banned her.
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Facebook banned Loomer in May 2019 and X banned her in November 2018, but reinstated her account after
Elon Musk acquired the company.
U.S. District Court Judge Laurel Beeler in the Northern District of California dismissed the complaint for several reasons. Among others, Beeler found that
Loomer's allegations, even if proven true, wouldn't show that the companies engaged in the kind of criminal conspiracy that could violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations
Act.
Beeler also ruled that Loomer couldn't proceed against Meta and X because she previously lost similar lawsuits against both companies, and because Section 230 of the
Communications Decency Act protects web companies from lawsuits over content moderation decisions.
Beeler additionally dismissed Loomer's claims against Procter & Gamble,
writing that her allegations, if proven, would show only that Facebook and Procter & Gamble were protecting their business interests. She added that Procter & Gamble's alleged attempt to avoid
running ads near objectionable content was a legitimate business decision.
Loomer then appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which sided against her in March. The appellate judges upheld Beeler's finding that the allegations int he lawsuit, even if
proven true, wouldn't show there was a racketeering conspiracy as defined by the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Loomer is now asking the Supreme Court to
hear her appeal.
"Platforms like Meta and X serve as gatekeepers of political discourse, with the power to amplify or suppress candidates’ messages at scale," her counsel
argues, adding that Supreme Court review of the matter "is particularly urgent given the national importance of protecting political discourse in the digital age, where platforms’ actions can
have far-reaching consequences for democracy."