Judge dismisses Donald Trump’s Twitter ban lawsuit

Illustration by Michele Doying / The Verge

Donald Trump's lawsuit against the social media platform was dismissed by a district judge in California. Trump and a group of other banned users have until May 27th to amend their complaint.

The order leaves the door open for an appeal, but it is highly critical of the lawsuit's claims, suggesting any amended version will face an uphill battle. The order rejects Trump's claims that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is unconstitutional.

In the first paragraph of his analysis, Judge James Donato notes that thePlaintiffs are not starting from a position of strength. It doesn't get any better from there for Trump and his followers.

The suit was filed in Florida last year, but was later moved to California, where similar suits were filed. Trump tried to restore his account early on in the trial, but failed and filed an amended complaint to strengthen his case.

When Trump was banned from the platform, he made a claim that the platform was acting as a state actor.

Legislators are free to express their opinions without being considered the official voice of the State. It concludes that even strident congressional commentary fits within the normal boundaries of a congressional investigation as opposed to threats of state action.

Trump and his co-plaintiffs didn't show a connection between the law and their ban. They couldn't convince the judge to apply a Florida-based deceptive trade practices rule in California court, and the order concludes that they probably didn't violate it. There is nothing deceptive about these provisions.

The rule that Trump was trying to apply to Florida was currently tied up in courts.

The final decision will look a lot like this one, because Trump can't add new claims to an amended filing. It is possible that after the purchase of the company by billionaire Musk, it will be possible to voluntarily restore Trump's account. There have been many legal failures for people who sued social networks for banning them.