Donald Trump sues to get his Twitter account restored, claiming tech giant caved into pressure from rivals

Donald Trump appears to be missing his Twitter account, with the former US president suing the tech giant to have it restored.

Donald Trump is suing to get his Twitter account restored, claiming the tech giant caved in to pressure from his rivals.

The former US president asked a federal judge in Florida to request Twitter restore his account – which was removed nearly 10 months ago, The Sun reports.

Mr Trump has now filed a request for a preliminary injunction against Twitter in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

He claims that the tech giant was “coerced” by members of Congress to suspend his Twitter account.

And his lawyers say that Twitter is censoring the former president and violating his First Amendment rights.

Twitter “exercises a degree of power and control over political discourse in this country that is immeasurable, historically unprecedented, and profoundly dangerous to open democratic debate,” Mr Trump’s lawyers said in the filing.

Mr Trump – who boasted 88 million followers during his time in charge – was indefinitely suspended from Twitter in January, following the shocking US Capitol riot that left five dead.

The social media platform said Mr Trump violated the platform’s policy barring “glorification of violence”.

Former US president Donald Trump wants his Twitter account reinstated. Picture: Eric Baradat/AFP

And in May when Mr Trump’s communication team set up the @DJTDesk account, it was also taken down for “violating the rules”.

The @DJTDesk account appeared to have been an innovative way to allow the former President to communicate directly with users on various social media platforms.

During a statement online at the time, he said: “Facebook, Twitter and Google were a “total disgrace and am embarrassment to our Country.”

Trump’s demand

“Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before,” it read.

“The People of our Country will not stand for it! These corrupt social media companies must pay a political price, and must never again be allowed to destroy and decimate our Electoral Process.”

In July, Mr Trump sued Twitter, Facebook, and Google – as well as their chief executives – alleging that they unlawfully silence conservative viewpoints.

Twitter has declined to comment on the filing.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Donald Trump sues to get his Twitter account restored, claiming tech giant caved into pressure from rivals