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Twitter’s Claim as Free Speech Platform May Be Fraudulent

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Twitter, which was once described by company executives as “the free speech wing of the free speech party,” can be held liable in court for falsely advertising the platform as a bastion of unfettered free speech, a California judge has ruled.

Jared Taylor, a so-called "white advocate" who runs a racist organization called New Century Foundation that demeans black people, was kicked off of Twitter in December. The court said that he did not, in fact, have his free speech rights violated by the platform, according to a June 14 court ruling by California Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn.

A woman consoles another as parents wait for news regarding a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018. - Sputnik International
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But, importantly, since Twitter has the ability to suspend users' accounts "at any time, for any reason or for no reason," the judge said, the Silicon Valley company may be fraudulently deceiving its users by stating that Twitter is a champion of free speech, Bloomberg reports.

Claims from Twitter executives that the company is a stalwart of free speech are not unprecedented. In 2012, the general manager of Twitter in Britain, Tony Wang, said the social media site views itself as "the free speech wing of the free speech party," the Guardian reported.

"Generally, we remain neutral as to the content because our general council and CEO like to say that we are the free speech wing of the free speech party," Wang said at a summit.

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