Libs of TikTok has officially put Twitter on notice after a second temporary suspension, threatening legal action if their account is permanently banned.
The popular conservative account, which reposts videos from TikTok of teachers and activists to Twitter with commentary, revealed that they had been suspended from Twitter for 7 days on Sunday, for allegedly violating their “hateful conduct policy.”
The commentator wrote on her Substack that, just like her previous week-long suspension, Twitter “provided no explanation” as to how the content policy was violated.
“The truth is I haven’t engaged in hateful conduct,” she said. “I’ve just exposed the Left’s depravity by reporting the facts. There’s no rule against that, so they have to make up violations I’ve never committed.”
The account owner’s enemies have celebrated the suspension, and called for Twitter to permanently ban the account, claiming anything else is unfair.
Libs of Tiktok has been locked out for 7 days. Enough is enough, Twitter. They need to be suspended PERMANENTLY. No other account has gotten this much special consideration or consecutive lockouts without a permanent suspension. It's clear they are getting special treatment. pic.twitter.com/sEYot6HUCx
— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) September 28, 2022
Taylor Lorenz, a liberal journalist and Libs of TikTok doomsayer who previously published an article revealing private information about Libs of TikTok that many consider to be doxxing, previously suggested Twitter was deeply concerned about the account.
Lorenz claimed in a Washington Post report published after Libs of TikTok’s temporary suspension earlier this month that Twitter executives are facing “internal pressure from employees to respond more aggressively to the account.”
Following this new suspension, attorney James R Lawrence III of Envisage Law, who represents Libs of TikTok, wrote to Twitter’s Vijaya Gadde, the head of Legal, Policy and Trust at the Big Tech, putting them on notice of forthcoming legal action if the big tech platform permanently bans the Libs of TikTok account.
“Our client’s reporting may be offensive to Twitter users, including users who identify with protected categories, but that is not sufficient in and of itself to cut LOTT off from your company’s platform and our client’s audience,” Lawrence wrote.
BREAKING: Twitter has once again hit Libs of TikTok with a 7-day suspension for "hateful conduct." No specific tweets were flagged.
We've since fired off another letter to Twitter (attached). They're on notice that we will sue them if they permanently suspend us. pic.twitter.com/3M4ig6DmSu
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) September 28, 2022
They argued that since Twitter had repeatedly confirmed that many tweets from Libs of TikTok did not violate their policy, and that investigations from Twitter should have uncovered any violations, Twitter was at risk of falling foul of breach of contract and promissory estoppel claims.
The letter cited Texas House Bill 20, an anti-censorship law that was recently upheld by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court rejected the notion that Big Tech platorms “have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say,” removing a preliminary injunction on the law by the Supreme Court.
With HB20 in effect, the letter argued that the temporary suspension is already in violation of the law. “Outside of perhaps the Gilded Age of a bygone era, rarely has a multi-billion-dollar company’s words – claiming to be ‘the free speech wing of the free speech party’ while censoring journalism – so contradicted its actions,” the letter noted:
“Many Americans are tired of listening to your company talk the talk of free expression while walking the walk of censorship. And LOTT is no exception. If Twitter refuses to live up to its own words and aspirations, and permanently bans our client’s account, LOTT will have no choice but to ask a court to order Twitter to live up it is own statements. We reiterate our request that Twitter immediately reinstate the @LibsofTikTok account.”
As Valiant News reported, Libs of TikTok was banned from Instagram in May, before the platform, owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, decided that the suspension was a “mistake,” and reinstated it, after backlash across social media.
