A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit Twitter had filed against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in which the social media giant had attempted to block his investigation attempts.
Twitter sued Paxton in March after the Texas Republican asked the company to divulge documents related to its banning procedures. The company claimed in response that Paxton was seeking to “punish Twitter” for banning former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 riot inside the Capitol building.
TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL UNBLOCKS TWITTER CRITICS WHO SUED HIM
But Judge Maxine Chesney on Tuesday sided with Paxton, calling Twitter’s lawsuit “premature.” Chesney added that Twitter’s First Amendment claims of protection against investigation were “unpersuasive,” especially since Paxton had not in any way penalized the company.
A Twitter spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the ruling notably did not shut down the company’s accusation that Paxton is “misusing the powers of his office to infringe on Twitter’s fundamental rights in an attempt to silence free speech.”
“Although we disagree with some aspects of the court’s findings, we’ll continue working to advance our principles and defend the open internet,” the spokesperson said.
The company was one of five social media outlets that Paxton subjected to investigation after the Jan. 6 riot, which came after a rally that Paxton had attended, which was also attended by Trump. A week after the incident, Paxton criticized these platforms for banning Trump, along with many other accounts that were purged in the riot’s aftermath.
“The seemingly coordinated de-platforming of the president of the United States and several leading voices not only chills free speech, it wholly silences those whose speech and political beliefs do not align with leaders of Big Tech companies,” Paxton said.
Paxton, a fervent Trump ally, led a coalition of Republican-led states in December to overturn the election by filing an original jurisdiction challenge at the Supreme Court. The court rejected the challenge, as well as nearly every other election-related lawsuit.
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In recent weeks, Paxton has become the subject of lawsuits related to his own social media usage. The attorney general in early May unblocked nine Twitter users after they sued him for restricting their free speech.
