Rep. Devin Nunes sues Twitter for $250 million
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has sued Twitter and three of its users for $250 million in damages, alleging that he was defamed and that the social media juggernaut engages in the “shadow-banning” of conservative opinions and selectively enforces its terms of service to benefit opponents of the Republican Party.
Nunes also claims in the 40-page lawsuit, dated Monday and filed in the Virginia Circuit Court in Henrico County on Tuesday, that Twitter sought to influence his 2018 reelection race and interfere with his investigation into Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and Russian involvement in the 2016 elections. Nunes oversaw that inquiry as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee — a role he held until Democrats officially retook the House in January.
Among the suit’s defendants are a Twitter user purporting to be the congressman’s mother, a Twitter user operating an account called “Devin Nunes’ cow” and GOP communications strategist Liz Mair.
The suit references various messages critical of Nunes posted to the defendants’ accounts, as well as other accounts — including “Fire Devin Nunes” and “Devin Nunes’ Grapes” — “whose sole purpose was (and is) to publish and republish (tweet and retweet) false and defamatory statements about Nunes,” the suit alleges.
“The substance and timing of the tweets, retweets, replies and likes by Mair, Devin Nunes’ Mom and Devin Nunes’ cow demonstrates that all three bad actors were and are engaged in a joint effort, together and with others, to defame Nunes and interfere” with his congressional duties, Nunes’ attorney claimed in the suit.
“The full scope of the conspiracy, including the names of all participants and the level of involvement of donors and members of the Democratic Party, is unknown at this time and will be the subject of discovery in this action,” the complaint says.
Nunes on Monday evening warned that his litigation “is the first of many lawsuits that are coming,” arguing that Americans’ “First Amendment rights are at stake” because of Twitter’s actions.
“They spread this fake news and the slanderous news,” Nunes told host Sean Hannity in an interview on Fox News, accusing Twitter of “proliferating out things that they agree with, with the algorithms” he said the company has developed.
“How is it possible that I can be attacked relentlessly, hundreds of times a day by fake accounts that they claim in their terms of service should not be there?” Nunes said. “So I guarantee you if I put something out that was sexually explicit or attacked someone personally, they would stop it. They would say, ‘This is a sensitive tweet.’ They never did that to any of the people that were coming after me or other conservatives.”
Mair, a self-described libertarian Republican who was the online communications director for the Republican National Committee in 2008, formed the anti-Trump Super Pac Make America Awesome in late 2015. On Tuesday, she tweeted an initial response to being sued by Nunes.
“A formal response to Rep. Nunes‘ pleading is forthcoming, but suffice it to say that I have a very different view on applicable law (including the First Amendment) than Rep. Nunes,” she wrote. “Beyond that, I’m disinclined to discuss the details of the lawsuit itself, since I am a defendant in it.“
“I also believe that like like every Member of Congress,” she continued, “Rep. Nunes has sworn an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment, and that as a public official, it is entirely proper and correct that his actions, political committee expenditures, voting record and conduct be subject to public scrutiny and debate.“
A close ally of the president, Nunes has been the target of criticism over the past two years for his cozy relationship with the White House while overseeing the House’s investigation into Russian election meddling, which Democrats accuse him of inappropriately politicizing.
Republicans have long been incensed by what they view as Twitter’s partisan double standards for policing content on the site. Lawmakers in September called the company’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, to Capitol Hill, where he denied in two high-stakes hearings that his service suppresses conservative voices.