Twitter has filed a lawsuit against the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over his investigation of several websites after the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Twitter permanently suspended Donald Trump's account in January.
Paxton announced an investigation of Twitter, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google several days later. He said he was looking for information about the companies blocking the social media platform, Parler.
"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. Every American should be concerned about this large-scale silencing and the effects it will have on the future of free speech," Paxton wrote in a statement at the time.
Monday, Twitter filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S District Court of Northern California. The lawsuit accuses Paxton of "abusing his authority as the highest law-enforcement officer of the State of Texas to intimidate, harass, and target Twitter in retaliation for Twitter’s exercise of its First Amendment rights.”
The lawsuit says protections under the First Amendment allow the company the decide what content to permit or restrict.
"Instead, AG Paxton made clear that he will use the full weight of his office, including his expansive investigatory powers, to retaliate against Twitter for having made editorial decisions with which he disagrees," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit says Paxton's office sought all of the company's documents and accuses Paxton's office of refusing to limit its request.
Tuesday morning, Paxton's office had not yet responded.