Donald Trump Can’t Charge Twitter in Florida, Case Moved to California, Judge Rules

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A federal judge ruled Tuesday night that former President Donald Trump cannot pursue a lawsuit against Twitter in the state of Florida.

“[Trump’s] status as [former] The President of the United States does not exclude him from the requirements of the forum selection clause in the Twitter Terms of Service, ”the decision said.

Trump requested that his Twitter account be temporarily unlocked before being fully restored, and called the company “a major form of public discourse.”

The case will now be moved to be heard by a California court, according to a motion requested by Twitter. A similar result is expected in that state.

The former president filed a lawsuit against Twitter on Oct. 2, accusing the tech conglomerate and its CEO, Jack Dorsey, for allegedly violating his First Amendment right to free speech and arguing that he was “not fairly evaluated ”by the media.

Often used to make multiple statements and to express his views, Trump’s Twitter account is often a topic that divides Democrats and Republicans. Trump also uses tweets to announce official policy changes or items of a similar nature.

The former president himself, however, announced his use of the platform as “modern-day presidential” in July 2017. He often spends a lot of time on the platform, and Insider reported that Trump sent 200 tweets or retweets in June 6, 2020, most of his presidency.

Here, former President Donald Trump can be seen giving a speech. Scott Olson/Getty

Trump’s Twitter account was permanently suspended on Jan. 8, two days after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in the Jan. 6 insurgency.

CNN noted that Trump’s lawyers argued that while the former president’s account was shut down, the Taliban’s official state Twitter in Afghanistan was still active.

The decision also referred to the decision of a previous case, Knight First Amend. Inst. at Columbia Univ. v. Trump. It was found in that case that the former president’s blocking of other Twitter users violated their First Amendment rights because Trump’s account was a “designated public forum” and a “presidential account.”

Trump was forced to unblock some accounts named in that case.

Trump’s lawyers referred to the case in their own lawsuit, claiming that suspending him from Twitter violated his own First Amendment rights in a similar way. However, the decision on Tuesday said Knight v. Trump in the current case.

The former president originally filed three lawsuits in Florida against technology companies, including Twitter. So far, two of the three have bounced back because Trump’s lawyers filed them in the wrong court, according to Reuters reporter Brad Heath.

Beyond Twitter, former President Trump was also banned from many other social media platforms after January 6. This includes Facebook and Instagram, where he will not be allowed to return until at least January 2023, it is announced this past June.

Newsweek reached out to Twitter’s public relations team for comment.

(10/26/2021, 10:15 pm ET): This story has been updated with more information.

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