Former President Donald Trump on Friday asked a federal court to reinstate his Twitter account, saying in an injunction request that the social media company was “coerced” by lawmakers into banning him.
“[Twitter] exercises a degree of power and control over political discourse in this country that is immeasurable, historically unprecedented, and profoundly dangerous to open democratic debate,” the legal filing said in part, according to Reuters.
Trump also pointed out in the filing that leaders of the Taliban are currently allowed on Twitter.
The request was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
In July, Trump sued Twitter, Facebook and Google, accusing the Big Tech giants of unfairly censoring conservatives.
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The former president was banned from Twitter on Jan. 8 amid a gauntlet of criticism over the riot at the U.S. Capitol by some of his supporters a few days earlier.
It was later revealed that the FBI had planted people in the crowd that entered the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Twitter issued a blog post on the day of the ban describing the then-sitting president as a threat to society.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the company said.
One tweet cited for Trump’s ban read, “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
Twitter called that tweet dangerous, claiming it was “highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
In the weeks leading up to the ban, Twitter had turned to censoring and flagging Trump’s tweets regularly.
While Twitter said Trump’s ban was to prevent violence, no one was censored or kicked off the platform for supporting the riots following the death of George Floyd in 2020.
Additionally, prominent establishment media personalities who condoned the violence on Twitter, such as CNN host Don Lemon, were allowed to keep their accounts.
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The official “Don Lemon Tonight” account tweeted a clip of Lemon applauding the often violent and destructive riots.
“When we see these riots around this country, I say, like King said, it’s the language, it’s the voice of the unheard.” – CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers on protests over the death of George Floyd https://t.co/efs7RA6KRv pic.twitter.com/NEEabFVTDU
— Don Lemon Tonight (@DonLemonTonight) May 29, 2020
Not only did Twitter allow high-profile Democrats to glorify violence on its platform, but the company seemingly purged thousands of conservative accounts in the days after the Capitol incursion.