Rep. Nunes Declares War on Twitter with $250 Million Suit as Full Scope of Its Bias Becomes Clearer
Conservatives have long been at odds with major social media companies, and a GOP congressman just fired the opening shots in what could be a precedent-setting legal battle.
Big tech outlets including Facebook and Twitter have faced serious criticism in recent years for showing bias toward the left while taking harsh action against voices on the right. The Western Journal has covered this issue extensively, and Conservative Tribune has highlighted numerous instances of seemingly unfair practices against conservatives.
But until now, complaints from the right about a liberal bias-driven monopoly in social media have largely stayed out of the courtroom. That could soon change: California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes has filed a multimillion-dollar defamation and negligence lawsuit against Twitter, and it could have serious consequences.
According to Fox News, the conservative congressman is going after Twitter for $250 million in compensatory damages as well as another $350,000 in punitive damages. In addition to Twitter, the lawsuit names as defendants political consultant Liz Mair and two anonymous Twitter accounts.
Nunes is accusing Twitter of “shadow banning” many conservatives on its platform, which refers to a practice of secretly making tweets invisible to users of the platform. The lawsuit is also claiming that Twitter frequently ignores abusive behavior from liberals while being unfairly strict with conservatives.
“In a complaint filed in Virginia state court on Monday, obtained by Fox News, Nunes claimed Twitter wanted to derail his work on the House Intelligence Committee, which he chaired until 2019, as he looked into alleged and apparent surveillance abuses by the government,” the news outlet reported Monday.
The official complaint filed by Nunes declares that Twitter is “knowingly hosting and monetizing content that is clearly abusive, hateful and defamatory — providing both a voice and financial incentive to the defamers — thereby facilitating defamation on its platform.”
The legal filing provides several examples.
Attorneys for the congressman told Fox News that Mair “implied that Nunes colluded with prostitutes and cocaine addicts, that Nunes does cocaine, and that Nunes was involved in a ‘Russian money laundering front.'”
“Twitter did nothing to investigate or review the defamation that appeared in plain view on its platform. Twitter consciously allowed the defamation of Nunes to continue,” the lawsuit said.
One of the key issues that may be explored by this case — and could have far-reaching implications — is whether Twitter is merely an open platform for social media posts or actively curates and edits content.
If Nunes and his attorneys are able to show that the platform is the latter, sites including Twitter and Facebook could lose some of their current legal protections.
“Although federal law ordinarily exempts services like Twitter from defamation liability at all levels, Nunes’ suit said the platform has taken such an active role in curating and banning content — as opposed to merely hosting it — that it should face liability like any other organization that defames,” Fox News explained.
Nunes attorney Steven S. Biss compared Twitter — which holds major influence over national elections and Americans’ political speech — to a corrupt Democratic political machine of the 19th century.
“Twitter is a machine,” Biss told Fox News. “It is a modern-day Tammany Hall.
“Congressman Nunes intends to hold Twitter fully accountable for its abusive behavior and misconduct.”
Whether Nunes is able to get anywhere is still up in the air, but at the very least this lawsuit should bring some much-needed attention to Twitter’s practices.
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