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UPDATE: On March 14, 2019, the Facebook, Twitter, Google Free Speech class action lawsuit was dismissed. While an appeal was filed by the plaintiff, the dismissal was upheld by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on August 13, 2020.
A conservative nonprofit company recently filed a free speech class action lawsuit against numerous tech companies, alleging that they have conspired to allow “fake news media” to dominate search results.
Freedom Watch Inc. filed the class action lawsuit against Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Apple, alleging that the companies have conspired together to suppress conservative news outlets.
Freedom Watch claims that the defendants entered into an “illegal agreement to refuse to deal with conservative news and media outlets” which is in violation of antitrust laws, such as the Sherman Act, and the First Amendment.
“Since defendants, each and every one of them, have begun their conspiracy to intentionally and willfully, and/or acting in concerted parallel fashion, to suppress conservative content and refuse to deal with Freedom Watch, Freedom Watch’s growth on these platforms has come to a complete halt, and its audience base and revenue generated has either plateaued or diminished,” the Facebook free speech class action claims.
The alleged conspiracy has caused numerous conservative news outlets and media companies to lose profits. The defendant media companies reportedly suppress the exposure of conservative news which decreases the amount of people which see the site and, in turn, decreases profits.
The founder of Freedom Watch, Larry Klayman, recently told Law360 that he suspects that YouTube has placed “some kind of governor” on Freedom Watch’s account which has allegedly stifled that channel’s growth and led to a stagnating subscriber base.
“That kind of thing is happening with everybody,” Klayman claimed. “A decision was made about six months ago that these companies were not going to allow conservative organizations to flourish. It’s part of the attempt to take down President Trump.”
The filing of this Twitter, Apple class action lawsuit comes only days after President Donald Trump made a series of tweets, alleging that 96 percent of Google search results for “Trump news” are from “national left-wing media.”
Freedom Watch cited this statistic in their Google free speech class action along with the statistic’s source, a study conducted by PJ Media’s supervising editor, Paula Bolyard.
Following Trump’s flurry of tweets, Google made a statement, assuring that “We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”
In a statement to Law360, Freedom Watch said that the organization has been preparing to file a class action since before Trump’s tweets, but that the comments by the president “certainly brought everything to a crescendo.”
Klayman has also called out Attorney General Jeff Sessions for failing to prosecute the media giants. Klayman claims that Sessions is the “the darling of the left, given his refusal to prosecute Hillary Clinton, John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey, prominent Democrats and others … while at the same time giving Robert Mueller carte blanche to proceed with his ‘witch hunt.'”
“The job now falls to Freedom Watch to right this discrimination against conservatives by the social media giants,” Klayman argues.
Freedom Watch seeks to represent a Class of politically conservative organizations that create or distribute media content who have experienced suppression or censorship of their content by the defendants.
The Facebook, Google free speech class action seeks damages in excess of $1 billion in addition to injunctive relief.
Freedom Watch is represented by its Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.
The Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter Free Speech Class Action Lawsuit is Freedom Watch Inc. v. Google Inc., et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-02030, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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761 thoughts onFacebook, Twitter, Google Face $1B Free Speech Class Action
I was censored October 2020 for the Hunter Biden laptop story.
they hindered sales for my direct business as I had over 6000 followers, I had random orders from all kinds of people .
they disconnected me from my teammates and people that I needed to be in contact with. they damaged my direct sales business. I feel like there should be a class action lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook for freedoms of our speech, and doing damage to our direct sales businesses for just reporting the truth.
Facebook blocked and closed because i said Putin should be shot?
I’ve been locked out of Facebook several times for my political comments right before the last election. I feel my speech has been censored. I do not feel like Madeleine I’m a registered Democrat, but I always switch back-and-forth to whoever I feel is best and I was a republican this last election, and now, with the outlook on everything, I will be a republican most likely drop the rest of my life. This is terrible.
Same story here. And solicited ads for something I had looked at on a website outside of FB. Right after I looked at it online. Restricted speech for making a joke about setting a house on fire because there was a tarantula in it. Told me I was VIOLENT. Jail. Posting an Easter message, I was going against their community standards.
Something needs to be done with facebook. They have jailed people for no reason WE HAVE NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH, and I am over going to FB jail for posting the word STUPID.. I wish these companies would get sued then maybe we could have our LAW GIVEN RIGHTS BACK.
I have been restricted on fb for a year no. Every post is fact checked. And literally everything I post is truth that can be backed up by legit sources.
Agree ..Zuckerberg can buy an election $400 million dollars, and deny Free speech for the fact that H. Biden laptop existed at the request of f b I, therefore he was spreading false information. but I can’t question anything his nasty little Facebook “fact” Checkers find “offensive”. I was only asking why they never mention real forms of birth control and push for abortion….it is an unnecessary risk if you prevent the pregnancy in the first place….I was respectful in asking my question…banned! I am sick of the new town square being run by fascist little dictators.
my fb accout is restricted again. wheres freedom of speach here?? id like to delete all my photos and ditch fb
Twitter suspended my account for almost a year for no logical reason.
They claimed it was because a video
I uploaded years ago back in 2016 which shows my son being murdered, that others had already shared across every social media site, news outlet, website, via email, text message, platforms, etc., that exist. Their reason for suspending my account was because I wasn’t authorized to share that particular video with the hashtag #DarriusStewart my only son. So, they requested my identification, I was still locked out of my account. To this day, I am unable to do much of anything on the account.
Facebook has put my account on a permanent jail sentence all accounts involved with Facebook such as hard sales sites are not useable for me I am told it goes against their belief to sell a cage of witch I have many and have sold many thousands. Yet the next site down clearly is a cage for small animals. They closed my messenger accounts so I have no contact. I had to make a new page witch they found out about and closed me out again I for sure am a target for their policies. And so much more I am desperate to teach them a lesson. My contact # 814-809-4815