Trump Attorneys Claim Twitter Service Agreement Does Not Apply to Him in Capacity of POTUS

Former US President Donald Trump has been banned from Twitter since early January, being accused of inciting the 6 January Capitol riot. On this basis, he was also ousted from other mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Donald Trump's legal team filed a lawsuit on Wednesday claiming that Twitter's terms of service could not be applied to him while he was president of the United States, apparently attempting to challenge the ex-president's ban on the platform.

According to Trump's lawyers, at the time of Twitter banning him from the platform, he was using his account as a government entity, not as a personal page.

"As of January 7, 2021, Twitter had not further revised its TOS with its clearly stated 'government entity' exemption for choice of law, forum or venue, or amended its policy exempting government entities from its rules relating to physical violence and harm", Trump's legal team argued. "As a result, under the government entity exemption, the forum selection clause contained in Defendant’s TOS does not apply to Plaintiff".

The lawsuit was filed in order to prevent the case from being moved from Florida to California, since Twitter's current terms of service say that "all disputes related to these Terms or the Services will be brought solely in the federal or state courts located in San Francisco County, California".

According to the Trump team's filing, "matters concerning Florida consumers should not be vested in the care of Californian jurors". Twitter has not commented on the lawsuit.

The legal battle between the Trump team and Twitter and Facebook began after the social media platforms ousted him over accusations of incitement of insurrection on 6 January, claiming that the former president had instigated the Capitol riot. In response, Trump sued the social media companies and accused them of censorship and attacking free speech.