In a motion filed in federal court on Friday, former President Donald Trump argued through his lawyers that Facebook cannot enforce its terms of service when it comes to him because he is a “government entity.”
In the new filing, first reported by Reuters legal correspondent Brad Heath, Trump attorneys claimed the rules “do not apply to governmental entities, including Plaintiff, as the Forty Fifth President of the United States.”
Heath explained Trump made a nearly identical argument in September.
“It’s basically a copy/paste of his argument that he’s not bound by Twitter’s terms of service, so much so that the lawyers didn’t update the filing to address cases in that district that uphold the enforceability of Facebooks’ forum-selection agreement,” Heath reported.
Legal experts ridiculed the former president when he made the same arguments in a federal court filing involving Twitter, which also permanently suspended Trump following the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Trump’s lawyers are arguing that ‘President Trump’s social media accounts were government accounts, and not private ones,’ which would seem to raise loads of questions about how he, a private citizen, would have standing to sue over their suspension,” Heath noted.
Trump's lawyers are arguing that "President Trump's social media accounts were government accounts, and not private ones," which would seem to raise loads of questions about how he, a private citizen, would have standing to sue over their suspension. pic.twitter.com/e4AAziP8Sg
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) October 1, 2021
