If you guessed that it was for Twitter shutting down Trump's Twitter account, you guessed correctly.
We should have probably known that Trump had filed a lawsuit against Twitter. Banning him from Twitter after the January 6th insurrection left Trump no way to post his propaganda, until he started up Truth Social. With everthing so much more important, the lawsuit was totally off the radar.
Trump sued Twitter in July of 2021, claiming a violation of his First Amendment speech rights.
In May of 2022, a US District Court judge dismissed the lawsuit. Then, of course, Trump appealed the ruling and it was still pending until last week, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In November, 2022, Musk restored Trump's account. But Trump didn't use it until last year because he was using Truth Social to put out his statements.
Last month, Meta gave Trump $25 million over the lockout of his Facebook account, which was restored in 2023
Trump even sued Google at the same time. But it wasn't Google as a whole, it was only against YouTube for not allowing him to post videos.
Trump claimed that the censorship violated Florida's Stop Social Media Censorship Act. That law was blocked by a federal court.
In August of 2022 a federal judge stayed the YouTube lawsuit while the appeal of the dismissal of the Twitter case was resolved.
YouTube restored his ability in May of 2023, and then, in December of 2023, they banned him for 7 days. I can't find anything about the YouTube case being pursued or finalized. I also can't find the Twitter case being reinstated that resulted in Musk paying Trump $10 million.
Also, in the media lawsuit news by Trump, a judge on Feb.12th denied CBS's motion to have Trump's lawsuit about 60 Minutes dismissed.
Trump is still filing an an inordinate number of lawsuits against media for various reasons and for defamation.
Credit: Axios
The graph shows a history of one small category of the 4000 lawsuits Trump has filed in his career.
In 2023 Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) filed 20 cases against media organizations.
"President Donald J. Trump will continue to hold those who continue to traffic in fake news, lies, and smears to account and he is fully committed to seeing all of the cases to their just conclusions," said Trump attorney Ed Palzik in a statement to Axios.
Ed Palzik. That's a name we haven't heard of before. Most likely because Trump has given so many of his attorneys places in his administration and now Trump is scraping the bottom of the barrel.
We already know how large media outlets react. They capitulate, like ABC. What happens when smaller news organizations are hit by Trump in his never ending assault against those who criticize him? Lawsuits eat up time and money. That's Trump's whole point whether he wins or loses.
Trump also has his bully pulpit, just using Truth Social, to attack whomever he pleases, and his loyalists follow through with threats. Now he has X and Facebook back as tools. Also Instagram and Threads.
Another method to control the press is to take away their White House press credentials so they can't even ask questions of Trump, spokespersons, or other government officials who appear in White House press conferences. It just happened to Associated Press for the ridiculous reason of refusing to call the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America.
Jim Acosta had his CNN credentials yanked in 2018, sued, and got them back. I haven't heard of AP filing a case, but they should. In Washington D.C. courts they'll win.
It may be expensive, but the free press has to keep fighting back to stay free and able to tell the truth without fear or favor. That's the American way.
