MIAMI (BLOOMBERG) – Former United States President Donald Trump asked a federal judge to force Twitter to temporarily reinstate his account while he sues to permanently return to the social media network he once used to communicate with millions of supporters.

Mr Trump’s request for a preliminary injunction against Twitter was filed late Friday (Sept 30) in Miami, Florida.

The Republican, who lost his bid for a second term in office, claims Twitter cancelled his account in January under pressure from his political rivals in Congress.

Twitter kicked Mr Trump off its platform on Jan 8, two days after a mob of the former president’s supporters attacked the Capitol to prevent President Joe Biden’s victory from being confirmed by Congress.

Mr Trump used Twitter and other social media platforms to falsely and repeatedly claim that the election had been rigged.

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 former president’s lawyers said in the filing.

Mr Trump also claims Twitter improperly censored him during his presidency by labelling his tweets as “misleading information” or indicating they violated the company’s rules against “glorifying violence.”

Numerous lawsuits filed by Mr Trump and his supporters seeking to overturn the election result failed across the country due to a lack of evidence of mass voter fraud.

Mr Trump’s own attorney-general at the time, Mr Bill Barr, and US intelligence agencies agreed with state election officials that any fraud in the election would not have changed the results.

More on this topic

Join ST’s Telegram channel here and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Source: Read Full Article