‘Your Dad is a Billionaire’: Trump Jr’s Fundraising for Father’s Anti-Big Tech Lawsuit Falls Flat

Former US president Donald Trump filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, Google, and their respective CEOs on Wednesday over their moves to ban him from their platforms in the wake of the 6 January Capitol violence. Trump said his lawsuit was aimed at preventing government and Big Tech from censoring Americans’ free speech.

Donald Trump Jr has taken flak online after rolling out a donation campaign to assist his father’s class action lawsuit against Big Tech, with social media users perplexed and peeved at the idea for a variety of reasons.

“Guys my dad is suing big tech!!! I’d you [sic] can click to link [sic] to donate to his PAC to help out!!!” Trump Jr wrote on his Telegram page, referring to the senior Trump’s political action committees, called the Save America PAC and the Make America Great Again PAC.

In the provided link, donors are asked if they will “stand with President Trump and support him in his fight?”

Donald Trump

© Photo : Donald Trump Jr/Telegram/screenshot

The appeal was met with support from some, including a user who said they’d “prayed for this to happen” since February when their 17-year-old Facebook account was permanently deleted.

However, many others criticised Trump Jr’s appeal, pointing out that his dad is “a billionaire,” and asking “why” he would “need our money.”

“So wait, you have to DONATE in order for your dad to sue? He is a BILLIONAIRE! Something isn’t adding up here,” one user raged.

Even hardcore supporters seemed to have been irked by the request to pony up some cash, with one user saying they would not pay up until someone would “fix the election,” in reference to the highly contested results of the 2020 presidential vote, which many Trump supporters continue to believe was rigged against the sitting president. The Trump campaign asked for donations in the wake of the November vote, but its legal efforts to convince states to overturn the results were unsuccessful.

“Sorry Don…no money…fix the election and then we’ll think about it…until then…you’re on your own,” a disillusioned user wrote.

Trump Lawsuit

Former President Donald Trump filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, and Google on Wednesday, with the lawsuit, which also targets Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Sundar Pichai, seeking a public court battle with the Big Tech companies and their alleged plot to squash free speech.

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Trump explained that he was suing Bit Tech because they had “teamed up with government to censor the free speech of the American people,” and suggested that “if they can do it to me, they can do it to you.”

Trump said his treatment by Big Tech in January was “unconstitutional” and that his aim was to “restore free speech” for himself “and for every American” against the “brazen and shameless” efforts by the tech companies to try to manipulate and control political debate.

The former president's lawsuit is widely expected to be dismissed, with legal experts suggesting that private companies are not bound by the Constitution and its free speech protections.

Trump’s Twitter and Facebook accounts were banned in the aftermath of the 6 January riots at the Capitol, during which angry supporters of the president stormed US legislative chambers in a bid to stop Congress from formally declaring Joe Biden to be the victor in the 3 November election. Democratic lawmakers and Big Tech accused Trump of fomenting the riots, despite his tweets urging supporters to “stay peaceful” and “go home.”