by WorldTribune Staff, August 3, 2021

WorldTribune.com may join the class action lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump against Facebook, Twitter, and Google.

“We see the stealth censorship of WorldTribune.com and the outright banning of President Trump as the direct suppression of First Amendment rights, in our case, Freedom of the Press,” Publisher Robert Morton said.

“The pressure noticeably increased after Feb. 1 when the continued reporting of election fraud evidence was no longer tolerated by the Social Media Monopolies. Many independent media platforms complied by reducing their coverage on this issue. WorldTribune did not,” Morton said.

According to the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), Trump’s July 7 lawsuit is adding ”additional censorship experiences” from some of the nearly 65,000 people who submitted them to the institute.

”Late last night, Amended Complaints were filed in the Big Tech lawsuits against Facebook, Inc., Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter, Inc., Jack Dorsey, Google LLC, and Sundar Pichai,” AFPI said in a July 28 statement.

“Since the initial filing on July 7, 2021, nearly 65,000 American people have submitted their stories of censorship through America First Policy Institute’s (AFPI) Constitutional Litigation Partnership (CLP) at TakeOnBigTech.com,” AFPI added.

In January, Twitter, Facebook, and Google banned Trump over his claims that the Nov. 3 election was stolen and also alleged that Trump contributed to violence on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol. Twitter executives have said Trump’s ban will be permanent. Facebook imposed a two-year ban on the former president’s account. Google-owned YouTube has said it would maintain his suspension until it determines that “the risk of violence has decreased.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey were named in the Trump’s lawsuits — as well as the companies themselves. Trump said the lawsuits will seek a court award of punitive damages over the suspension.

During a July 7 press conference outlining his plans for the legal action, Trump said that he expected thousands of people would join his lawsuit.

“Joining us this morning are just a few of the many Americans who have been illegally banned or silenced under the corrupt regime of censorship,” Trump said at the time. “These brave patriots are included in the lawsuit and thousands more are joining as we speak. Thousands more. They’re all wanting to join. This will be, I think will go down as the biggest class action ever filed.”

Naomi Wolf, a longtime liberal and former adviser to the political campaigns of both Bill Clinton and Al Gore, told The Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders” program in a recent interview that the growing number of people banned from Big Tech platforms is leading to a wave of self-censorship.

Wolf, who was banned by Twitter in June for allegedly sharing so-called misinformation about Covid vaccines, said the “chilling effect” her ban has had on other journalists is evident because some have reached out to her directly.

“I’ve gotten so many emails from other reporters saying, ‘I really admire you, I’m so sorry you were deplatformed.’ And when I would say ‘well, can you say that publicly?’ They universally said ‘I would, but I’m really afraid of being deplatformed.’ And I’ve seen the self-censorship that has gone on in the wake of some high-profile de-platforming of journalists,” Wolf said.

Trump said at the July 7 press conference: “We’re asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to order an immediate halt to social media companies’ illegal, shameful censorship of the American people, and that’s exactly what they are doing. We’re demanding an end to the shadow banning, a stop to the silencing, and a stop to the blacklisting, banishing, and canceling that you know so well. Our case will prove this censorship is unlawful, it’s unconstitutional, and it’s completely un-American.”

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