Facebook, Twitter, Google Face $1B Free Speech Class Action

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.