Taylor isn’t the first conservative user to sue Twitter on the basis of political censorship. But it is the first case so far against a private social media company that hasn’t been dismissed in court. On June 15, Judge Harold Kahn of San Francisco County Superior Court ruled Taylor could proceed with his lawsuit, saying the case “goes to the heart of free speech principles that long precede our Constitution.”
“We want to change the rules,” Taylor said. “We want to make it impossible for these companies, simply on pure whimsy, to decide to shut people up that they disagree with. That is the right they claim.”
Twitter declined to comment on the case and how the company determines who gets kicked off and who doesn’t. Facebook, Gab, YouTube, Google and others did not respond to requests for comment.
“The only free speech that matters is their version of free speech,” Peters said.
Taylor is among those who contend freedom of speech is absolute, but others say the fact these social-media companies are private poses a concern.
“There is this kind of lingering question, which is, what obligation are they under to provide services to people?” Lee said. “Freedom of speech is freedom to express yourself, but it’s not freedom to force other people to publish what it is you have to say.”
But sites built on the promise of First Amendment principles and as alternatives to mainstream platforms are available.
“Anybody that wants to say any damn thing on the internet is going to be able today find a place to be hosted,” said Wolfson of the ADL. “They’re going to find someone that is more sympathetic to their message.”
Gab, which describes itself as being “dedicated to preserving individual liberty, the freedom of speech, and the free flow of information on the internet,” is one of many emerging alternative platforms.
The censorship-free company launched in 2017 and today claims about 400,000 users. According to the company’s annual report, users post more than 1.5 million times per month.
Some far-right Gab users tracked by News21 were explicitly hateful. Christopher Cantwell, who hosts the alt-right radio show Radical Agenda, said in one post, “When you search for black lives matter and murder, all you get is a bunch of stories of police taking out the trash.”
Patrick Little, who is rumored on Gab to be running for president in 2020, posts pictures of himself holding a campaign sign in that reads “Expel the Jews by 22, vote Little, win Big” and refers to Adolf Hitler as a “saint.”
He detailed his removal from mainstream platforms like Twitter and YouTube on his Gab account, saying they shut him down for “truth-telling.”
News21 reporters Ashley Mackey, Ashley Hopko, Danny Smitherman, Storme Jones, Tessa Diestel, Renata Cló and Anya Zoledziowsk contributed to this report.
Kianna Gardner is a Don Bolles fellow, Ashley Mackey is a Knight Foundation Fellow, Danny Smitherman is a Donald W. Reynolds Fellow, Storme Jones is an Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Fellow, Renata Cló is a Hearst Foundation Fellow.
