The US Supreme Court is deliberating whether to hear its first case where Big Tech is accused of implementing political bias and censorship.
The lawsuit against Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter was first filed by Laura Loomer and Freedom Watch in 2018, citing discrimination of conservatives in violation of the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
Loomer, a well-known conservative commentator and journalist, ran for a seat in the US House on a Republican ticket in Florida last November, while completely deplatformed by Big Tech – banned from conducting her campaign online on Twitter, Facebook, and a number of other major platforms, including crowdfunding and payment services like PayPal.
This deplatforming started much earlier, so the 2018 suit alleged Big Tech’s violations not only of the First Amendment but also of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and the District of Columbia Human Rights Act. However, the case was dismissed, leading Loomer and Freedom Watch founder Larry Klayman to lodge an appeal before the Supreme Court.
According to the filing, the plaintiffs accuse the four large and influential tech companies of violating the First Amendment in a documented, public, and anti-competitive manner aimed at suppressing conservative content.
The amended complaint the Supreme Court is now considering cites, among other things, statements made by former Big Tech employees that support the notion that the censorship campaign is real and politically and ideologically targeted – something described as a conspiracy to suppress conservative content and prevent conservative advocates and candidates from raising funds.
Several high profile cases of demonetizations and bans are mentioned, such as that of Prager University and Western Journal on YouTube, and the across the board deplatforming of Alex Jones.
Giants like Facebook are accused of manipulating visibility on the platform, and web traffic from the platform to conservative sites thanks to tweaked algorithms.
