In the ongoing lawsuit against Big Tech platforms, President Trump has filed for a preliminary injunction that would require YouTube to reinstate his account by Monday. The former president filed a lawsuit against the platforms that de-platformed him on the grounds that they did that on behalf of the federal government.
The request states:
“Pursuant to Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Plaintiff Donald J. Trump respectfully moves for a preliminary injunction directing, inter alia, Defendant YouTube, LLC, and all persons acting in privity, in concert, or on YouTube’s behalf, to reinstate Plaintiff’s access to Defendant’s social media platform.”
We obtained a copy of the injunction request for you here.
Trump’s injunction argues that the continued ban of his YouTube account would result in “irreparable harm” to him as a potential political candidate, and to the Republican Party. His lawyers said that similar requests will be filed in the cases against Twitter and Facebook.
The former president has repeatedly hinted he will run for the presidency again in 2024.
Earlier this week, when Fox host Sean Hannity asked him on live air whether he would run again, Trump said: “So, because the campaign finance laws are extremely complicated and unbelievably stupid, I am actually not allowed to answer that question, can you believe that? I would love to answer it.”
“But let me put it this way,” he added, “I think you’ll be happy and I think a lot of our friends will be very happy.”
Following the Jan 6 riot, Big Tech platforms banned Trump, because of the accusation that he incited the mob that raided the US Capitol. YouTube imposed an indefinite ban, so did Facebook (though it recently said it would reassess the ban in 2023). Twitter banned the former president permanently.
Last month, Trump filed a class-action lawsuit against the tech titans arguing they violated his First Amendment rights. His suit argues the platforms acted on behalf of the federal government, and therefore, are not exempt from respecting the First Amendment.
Last week, Trump criticized Twitter for banning him, yet it allows the Taliban to use the platform.
“It’s disgraceful when you think that you have killers and muggers and dictators and horrible … some horrible dictators and countries, and they’re all on but the president of the United States, who had hundreds of millions of people, by the way, he gets taken off,” Trump said in a recent phone interview on Newsmax.
