twitter – First Followers

Biden’s DOJ withdrew subpoena for Twitter account parodying Nunes

The Hill

The filing was revealed a day after a federal court in Washington, D.C., unsealed a motion showing the Trump administration’s DOJ had issued a grand jury subpoena to Twitter demanding that it turn over the identifying information regarding the user @NunesAlt.

The latest document unsealed Tuesday shows that the U.S. Attorney’s office in D.C. withdrew the subpoena in March, two months after President Biden took office.

In the filing, the DOJ asked a federal judge in March to deny Twitter’s motion to quash the subpoena, saying the case was moot since the demand had been withdrawn March 17.

On Monday it was revealed that Twitter had asked a federal judge to throw out the subpoena, arguing that it raised First Amendment concerns.

Source: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/554191-bidens-doj-withdrew-subpoena-for-twitter-account-parodying-nunes

New suit says Trump is still blocking users on Twitter

Courthouse News Service

It was one year ago this month that the Second Circuit ruled it unconstitutional for Trump to block users who criticize him — affirming a federal judge’s ruling that the block was a First Amendment violation.

Source: https://www.courthousenews.com/new-suit-says-trump-is-still-blocking-users-on-twitter/

Trump threatens to shut down social media after Twitter adds warning to his tweets

Maine Public

Tensions between President Trump and Twitter escalated Wednesday as he threatened to “strongly regulate” or shut down social media platforms, which he accused of silencing conservative viewpoints.

Trump’s threats come one day after Twitter, for the first time, added a fact-check warning to a pair of his tweets. In them, Trump claimed without evidence that mail-in ballots are fraudulent. . . .

University of Miami Law Professor Mary Anne Franks said the president has little legal recourse against Twitter’s decision to fact-check his posts because the company has the right to set and enforce its own rules.

“Can a public official try to regulate or to shut down a private entity on the basis of not liking what they did?” she said. “No, that would be exactly what the First Amendment protects us against. That’s the great irony of this.”

Source: https://www.mainepublic.org/post/trump-threatens-shut-down-social-media-after-twitter-adds-warning-his-tweets

Trump cannot block critics on Twitter, federal court affirms in ruling

Washington Post

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request to revisit an earlier holding that Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked individual Twitter users who were critical of the president or his polices.

“Excluding people from an otherwise public forum such as this by blocking those who express views critical of a public official is, we concluded, unconstitutional,” wrote Judge Barrington D. Parker.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/trump-cannot-block-critics-on-twitter-federal-court-affirms-in-ruling/2020/03/23/83ac302c-6d0b-11ea-a3ec-70d7479d83f0_story.html

Federal officials raise concerns about White House plan to police alleged social media censorship

CNN

Trump proposed a draft order that puts the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission in charge of overseeing claims of partisan censorship on social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/22/tech/ftc-fcc-trump-social-media/index.html