Twitter Beats Censorship Lawsuit by Banned White Nationalist

(Bloomberg) -- Twitter Inc. won a battle in the culture wars with a court ruling that upheld its decision to delete the accounts of a self-proclaimed “white advocate.”

The social media giant has faced mounting criticism from conservatives, including President Donald Trump, that it’s biased against them. But in its skirmish with banished-user Jared Taylor, a California state appeals court said a lower-court judge had erred in not dismissing the case.

Taylor had claimed Twitter violated his free speech and reneged on its promise of being a platform open to all points of view when it permanently deleted his accounts in December.

The San Francisco-based three-judge appeals panel agreed with Twitter in a ruling dated Aug. 17 that it’s protected by a federal law that recognizes online service providers have the right to decide what content to publish or withdraw.

Taylor is the founder of the New Century Foundation, which “purports to show the inferiority of blacks to whites,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Taylor describes himself as a “racialist” who believes in “racial realism.” Taylor alleged that Twitter won’t allow him and his publication “to respectfully share their views on its open platform.”

Taylor’s lawyer, Marc Randazza, responded to the ruling with an obscenity-laced comment that accused the appellate court of ignoring due process.

Twitter’s press office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Taylor v. Twitter, CGC18564460, California Superior Court, San Francisco.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Burnson in San Francisco at rburnson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Wollman at ewollman@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg

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