Donald Trump revives fight against Twitter at US appeals court for banning his account

On November 15, the former US president appealed to the court to revive his Twitter lawsuit which has put a permanent ban on his social media account following the Capitol riots incident in 2021. One of the lawyers representing Trump stated that the US Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing mentioned that the ban marked "overtly partisan censorship" and was "contrary to First Amendment principles deeply rooted in American history and law." Trump's argument sought compensatory and punitive damages, seeking to reinstate his account that was suspended permanently in January 2021. 

Twitter permanently bans Trump after 2021 Capitol riots

Twitter banned Donald Trump's account permanently from the platform on January 8, 2021, because of the "risk of further incitement of violence” followed by the deadly January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Other platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitch had also placed limits on the former president. Even after the suspension, Trump vowed to keep posting on his own Truth Social media platform.

On November 14, Trump's lawyer John Coale shared that " We want him to have the right to get back on Twitter". All sorts of assumptions were made out of which was that the ban was imposed to support the presidential win of the Democrat Joe Biden. Earlier in May in Trump's Twitter lawsuit, US District Judge James Donato had dismissed the claim that his suspension from Twitter has violated speech protections present under the US Constitution's First Amendment. Further, Judge Donato denied Trump's claim on Twitter working as a "state actor" when his account was banned. 

The new Twitter owner, Elon Musk said that he would restore Trump's account once he took ownership of the company. In May during the time of the Twitter takeover, Musk shared that has viewed Trump's ban as a mistake because it alienated a part of the country and has not resulted in Donald Trump not having a voice. Further, he said " He’s broadly against permanent bans and favours more tailored punishments for content that is illegal or otherwise “destructive to the world.”