Twitter launched a lawsuit against the United States government after the later started an intrusive investigation into an “ALT_” trend in the social media ring.
Twitter vs. President Trump
The investigation was launched by the Department of Homeland Security and the Customs and Border Protection. The targeted Twitter “ALT” accounts, the most notable of which is “ALT_IMIGRATION” spread heavily globalist and left-leaning rhetoric. The government demanded of Twitter to release information that would reveal the true identity of the people behind the accounts.
Twitter rightfully refused to cooperate, citing free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
The social media site wrote in a document to a federal court in San Francisco:
“The rights of free speech afforded Twitter’s users and Twitter itself under the First Amendment include a right to disseminate such anonymous or pseudonymous political speech.”
The government withdrew the demands to Twitter almost immediately after the social media launched the lawsuit. Both parties soon backed down. Some “fake news” sources claim that Twitter “won” the suit, but since there was no actual legal battle, there was no real victory in court.
What Is Really Going On?
The most probable truth of the lawsuit is that the United States government has gotten very used to lifting private information from social media sites without any objection. The Trump administration probably hoped to continue doing what Obama’s office did. Close, but no cigar.
The ALT accounts have all the markings of a centralized troll army. Since they popped up a few months ago, right after Trump’s inauguration, they garnered thousands of followers with a suspiciously fast pace. Many of those followers may be fake, and the Trump administration probably had good reasons to suspect shady dealings within those accounts.
After all, the ALT account creators claim to be former and even current US government employees. It seems pretty reasonable for the administration to try and root out insiders that are launching an active anti-government propaganda campaign that’s reaching thousands of people around the world.
