Charles C. Johnson, who rose to social media infamy in 2015 after a series of inflammatory investigations into politicians, crime victims and a fabricated campus rape story, has filed a lawsuit against Twitter Inc. over its decision to ban Johnson and all of his affiliated accounts from the website.
The 23-page lawsuit, filed in Fresno County Superior Court on Jan. 8, accuses the social media giant of illegally infringing on Johnson’s First Amendment rights by censoring his conservative beliefs, which in turn hurt several of his publishing endeavors. The former Breitbart writer operates GotNews.com and WeSearchr.com, which allows users to crowdfund investigations. Breitbart is a popular pro-Trump far-right online news site.
It’s unclear why Johnson’s suit, which involves a constitutional issue, wasn’t filed in federal court.
A spokeswoman for Twitter declined to comment because the lawsuit is active.
Johnson, who is registered to vote in Clovis, also claims his account constituted a business relationship with Twitter – a relationship that he says the social network violated by suspending his main account and any he tried to make in the two-plus years since. He points to Twitter promotional material, which he claims sets a value of $2.50-$3.50 for each follower to the account holder. Without the exposure gained from his more than 28,000 followers, he said, his publishing businesses will likely not survive.
“Ending (Johnson’s) business is an irreparable injury that cannot be compensated by an ordinary damages award,” the lawsuit says. It then asks for an injunction against Twitter that would force the company to reinstate Johnson’s accounts.
Twitter is also accused of “censoring” Johnson for his conservative ideals. He claims he was denied due process, never violated any terms of service and only learned of his ban’s permanence through a BuzzFeed article showing internal emails between various Twitter staff members.
Johnson has retained Los Angeles attorney Robert E. Barnes, who defended actor Wesley Snipes against tax fraud charges. In 2008, Snipes was acquitted on two felony charges, but he served more than two years in prison after a jury found him guilty on three misdemeanor charges.
A call to Barnes’ office was not returned.
Perhaps Johnson’s biggest claim to fame came after his attack of Rolling Stone columnist Sabrina Erdely’s article describing the alleged rape of a University of Virginia student. Shortly after the article published in November 2014, Johnson used Twitter to discredit it. The account detailed in the article was eventually deemed false, and Rolling Stone issued a retraction. Erdely and Rolling Stone were found guilty of defamation in 2016.
Johnson, an alt-right figure and vocal advocate for President Donald Trump, has churned out dozens of theories on various Democratic politicians and Trump rivals. He questioned former President Barack Obama’s citizenship and accused him of being a homosexual. He accused former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of various crimes related to her email accounts and the death of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.
He’s posted articles discrediting the woman who accused Alabama Republican senatorial candidate Roy Moore of sexual assault, and he sought to prove Michael Brown, the unarmed black man killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, had a violent criminal history.
Johnson, who describes himself as an online troll, frequently attacked celebrities and politicians through Twitter, and invited others to do the same. He also shared publicly the home addresses of two New York Times journalists.
His Twitter account was banned in May 2015 after he solicited donations to “take out” civil rights activist and Black Lives Matter organizer DeRay McKesson, who posted that he took the tweet as a personal threat.
Johnson is one of several alt-right figures banned by Twitter. Milo Yiannopoulos, an author and Breitbart’s former tech editor, and Roger Stone, a key strategist in Trump’s campaign, were both permanently suspended in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Both are also reportedly looking to sue Twitter, which has taken criticism from both sides of the political spectrum for its handling of online harassment claims.
Legal challenges against Twitter face an uphill climb, as the website has several layers of protection.
Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act is commonly used by websites as a shield. The provision keeps internet service providers from being classified as publishers, and protects them from being sued over the content posted by their users.
Johnson’s lawsuit claims that Section 230 requires that the provider operate “in good faith” – something he says Twitter did not do.
If deemed a publisher, Twitter could use its own First Amendment defenses.
Twitter also has a lengthy terms of service agreement that all users must agree to when creating an account. The agreement’s language regarding harassment and abuse was beefed up the same month it banned Johnson.
The two sides are scheduled to meet in court on May 7.
Rory Appleton: 559-441-6015, @RoryDoesPhonics