Nunes sues Twitter, some users, seeks over $250M alleging anti-conservative 'shadow bans,' smears https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nu...250m-for-anti-conservative-shadow-bans-smears
I don't know how if you are the judge over this lawsuit, how don't casually chuckle through the "evidence".
He's really suing the "Devin Nunes' Cow" account for defamation? Really? Are there any lawyers who think he has a chance? Not one myself but I was under the impression that the latitude on parody of public figures was about as wide as could be possible for 1st Ammendment reasons. I don't know, maybe he's got some awesome evidence regarding Twitter in his pocket and a great case. But suing parody accounts for defamation seems to me pretty quixotic at best. What's next? Hillary Clinton suing MojoMan because the political cartoons he posts are defamatory? I really want to believe that the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee is not as stupid as this makes him appear.
Dev Dev Dev You thought you one-upped your high school bullies by being a United States Congressman by any means necessary. Then this **** came along. Prayers be with you, brah. You earned that Corvette! ****sucker
I think suing his actual mother and/or cow would be less pathetically stupid than this embarrassing clown show.
W Well, the interesting thing is that he'd have to prove the cow's intent. ;-) Kidding aside, it's a serious issue, and one that I think Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. will struggle dealing with. They DO seem to be biased in their application of rules, and they are trying to play both sides of the fence on it. A few years from now, we might look back on situations like this as part of the explanation of 'whatever happened to twitter?' These things are fickle...there's always the next thing out there.
the irony is rich. as reported by Rachel Maddow, in 2017, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) co-sponsored legislation in the last Congress called the “Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act.” http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-devin-nunes-lawsuit-against-twitter-such-bad-idea
I can see a possible universe where he wins against Twitter. Even then I think it's a stretch. Can the libs sue Fox News for defamation because they aren't as fair and balanced as they claim by lib reckoning? That's extreme judicial overreach and a pandora's box and that no sane court would want to open. To some degree Twitter has to be responsible for policing their own terms of service. Can neo-Nazis or hardcore Communists sue Twitter because they are biased to the liberal seen from their neo-Nazi or Commie viewpoint? Fair play for Fascists and Communists? However, I can't imagine a possible universe in which he wins against individual Twitter users for making fun of him. That idea seems blatantly un-American. This seems like the epitome of a frivolous lawsuit. I hope Devin Nunes' Cow and his Mom countersue for harassment and for court costs. That seems to me like a much more winnable argument.
Agree. As for individual posters, I would think existing laws against libel would apply---which are notoriously hard to win any damages for (back to my tongue in cheek statement about proving the cow's intent). It could indeed get interesting if suits like this sprung up around news coverage. I think the difference is in having a specific viewpoint vs silencing a specific viewpoint. One is absolutely the intent of free speech, the other is the opposite. What Twitter, FB, etc are doing is the latter...which is what opens them up to such lawsuits. Which is why I have been against regulation like this to start wtih. Who gets to be the decider, and how do they avoid bias? In the case of Twitter, Facebook, etc...do they even want to avoid bias? Or is the intent really more to have just enough bias to not get caught at it?
A year ago I would tell you that Nunes had no chance, that the law is very clear when it comes to public figures. However, the Trump administration has made this issue a public talking point, Clarence Thomas has spoken on it and a number of other conservative legal minds. So it is unclear if the pendulum is swinging or not.
