Trump faces lawsuit over Twitter usage
President Donald Trump has long been criticized for his Twitter use and now he is facing a lawsuit from advocates of the First Amendment over claims that he has unconstitutionally blocked some of his critics from his POTUS twitter account.
Last week Trump faced backlash for his tweet about “fake news,” which was edited to portray him beating up a man with a CNN logo on his face.
#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.
The lawsuit says Twitter has become an important public forum for the president and he frequently makes public announcements there.
The lawsuit asked a judge to stop Trump and his media team from blocking critics from following him.
A spokeswoman for government lawyers declined to comment.
The lawsuit says blocking people from following Trump's account was a viewpoint-based restriction that the Constitution doesn't permit.
The director of the Knight First Amendment Institute is Jameel Jaffer, who worked for years with the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.