US ex-president Donald Trump plans to sue his way back onto Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
The 75-year-old filed lawsuits against the the internet giants on Wednesday and said he was demanding the swift restoration of his accounts.
Trump will stay blocked on Facebook until at least the beginning of 2023. He currently has path back to Twitter, which was his favourite channel of communication and saw him gather some 80 million followers.
In the lawsuits filed in Florida, Trump accuses Facebook, Twitter and YouTube owner Google, as well as company bosses Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai personally, of an unconstitutional violation of free speech.
If they could do this to him, they could do it to anyone, he argued. The social media giant’s actions amounted to censorship, he said.
Trump is seeking to launch a class action lawsuit in which anyone whose accounts on online platforms were “censored” after June 1, 2018, would be able to participate.
Facebook and Twitter had blocked Trump in January shortly before the end of his term. This was triggered by Trump’s supporters storming the US Capitol – and Trump expressing sympathy for the attackers.
He also continues to claim, without any evidence, that his victory in the November presidential election was stolen by fraud.
