Canadian Court Rules That Businessman Has the Right to Sue Twitter for Defamation
Shane Trejo
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A Canadian court has ruled that Frank Giustra, a billionaire from British Columbia who sits on the board of the Clinton Foundation, is able to sue Twitter for defamation.
Giustra is suing Twitter after users of the platform accused him of being connected to “PizzaGate,” the theory that gained traction on social media that there is a child sex ring of some sort operating out of a ritzy Washington D.C. pizza joint.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elliott Myers would not comment on the merits of Giustra’s case when he made his ruling. He noted that Twitter would be protected in American courts due to the 1st Amendment of the Constitution, but those protections might not necessarily apply in the Canadian courts.
“The presumption is that a defendant should be sued in only one jurisdiction for an alleged wrong, but that is not a simple goal to achieve fairly for internet defamation,” Myers wrote.
“I do not agree with Twitter who argues that ‘of all places in the world, the plaintiff’s reputation has not been harmed in B.C.’,” he added.
Giustra is happy with Myers’ decision and hopes that he is able to hold Twitter accountable once the case is heard in court.
“I hope this lawsuit will help raise public awareness of the real harm to society if social media platforms are not held responsible for the content posted and published on their sites,” he said.
“I believe that words do matter, and recent events have demonstrated that hate speech can incite violence with deadly consequences,” Giustra added.
Big League Politics has reported on how Twitter and other tech giants have hidden behind legal protections in order to enforce a partisan political agenda:
The communications directors at many Big Tech entities – including Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat – have been revealed as veteran Democrat Party operatives…
Much of what is posted by Starbuck holds up to journalistic scrutiny. Twitter communications director Nick Pacillo once worked as a spokesman for Democrat vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris while she was California attorney general. It has been alleged that he continues to serve her in his privileged role with Twitter, as supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) believe the platform blocked donations for their preferred presidential candidate while he was running against Harris.
Meanwhile Andy Stone – who serves as Facebook’s Policy Communications Director – has been working in various capacities to assure Democrat victory for over a decade. He was celebrated for his career of service to the Democrats when he joined their House Majority PAC in 2012…
If Big Tech cannot be defeated in the courts, a full-scale nationalization of these entities may be the last option to stop the permanent manifestation of the Orwellian nightmare.
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