In Hart v. Facebook Inc., et al., the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a social media influencer’s lawsuit against Facebook and Twitter for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights by flagging his posts and suspending his social media accounts. The influencer also sued President Joe Biden and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in the same action for allegedly colluding with the social media platforms to monitor, flag, suspend and delete his posts.
In Hart, the plaintiff alleged that Facebook and Twitter restricted him from posting to his accounts or flagging his posts after he posted what the platforms considered to be misleading information about COVID-19. The platforms each found the posts at issue to be in violation of their terms of services and policies. Facebook and Twitter each moved to dismiss the complaint for failing to state a claim upon which relief could be granted because there was no state action, a requirement for a First Amendment violation.