Political Activist Sues Meta, X, Biden and Murphy in First Amendment Case

Facebook and Twitter violated boxer and political activist Cara Castronuova’s free speech rights, said her Thursday First Amendment lawsuit (1:23-cv-07511) against Meta and Twitter, now X Corp., filed Saturday in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York in Brooklyn. The complaint also names President Joe Biden and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

The complaint notes Nassau County, New York, resident Castronuova was recognized by former President Donald Trump for her work in political activism on her Twitter account “before it was shut down” and that she was an organizer of the Sept. 18, 2021, “Justice for J6” rally in Washington, in support of “those arrested for the January 6 United States Capitol demonstrations.”

Castronuova, pairing with Look Ahead America and its founder Matt Braynard, filed a formal complaint with the U.N. Human Rights Committee “regarding the January 6 prisoners,” and they aligned to hold rallies in Washington and in 17 states June-October 2021, it said. After those rallies, Castronuova’s main Facebook account was suspended permanently “without any warning whatsoever,” said the complaint.

Because she can no longer log in to her original account, Castronuova also lost control of her fitness fan page and other special interest pages “because Facebook makes it that you can no longer login or access your ‘Pages’ if you cannot login to your original account,” the complaint said. She also lost access to a political group page she started called “Liberate New York,” which opposed COVID-19-based lockdowns, mandates and vaccines, the complaint said.

The complaint identifies Castronuova as a journalist, activist, politician and licensed real estate agent, who used Facebook to advertise rallies and protests, operate the Liberate New York Group and maintain contacts for her nascent real estate business. Castronuova “found it incredibly difficult to jumpstart a career in Real Estate because she completely lost touch with thousands of contacts -- both business and personal -- that were reliant on Facebook.” Maintaining these relationships was "fundamental to Castronuova’s real estate career,” the complaint said.

The plaintiff was also “running for public office” at the time her Facebook account was canceled, which was “extremely harmful to her campaign,” cutting her off from “communicating with her community, local businesses, established friends and supporters, and from contacting new supporters,” alleged the complaint. The harm was “irreparable and Castronuova lost a close political race to an opponent who had full access to Facebook,” it said.

Around the time Facebook canceled Castronuova’s account, the Biden administration “revealed publicly that it is directing social media companies to remove posts it deems to be 'spreading misinformation regarding COVID-19,'” said the complaint. At the same time, Castronuova was “shadow-banned” by Twitter, in an “insidious” manner, it said. “Rather than outright cancelling her account, she has been severely shadow banned, also without any notice or justification,” the complaint said. When Castronuova attempts to send a message on Twitter, “it is automatically flagged as “suspicious content,” she said. She posted a screenshot of a required “password change” when she tried to post to her account, and when she tries to forward a third-party tweet, “it simply does not forward," the complaint said.

Castronuova referenced an alleged “scheme” by Biden administration officials to “take action against misinformation super-spreaders on their platforms” by “flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation." Biden and Murthy directed social media platforms to create a “robust enforcement strategy that bridges their properties and provides transparency about the rules,” the complaint said. A 22-page advisory had instructions on how social media companies “should remove posts with which Murthy and Biden disagree,” it said.

“On information and belief,” Biden and Murthy directed Facebook and Twitter to remove Castronuova’s social media posts “because they disagreed with the viewpoints she espoused in them and conspired with Facebook and Twitter to do so,” alleged the complaint. “The actions suggest political animus on the part of the Defendants against Castronuova for espousing beliefs also held by millions of Americans,” said the complaint.

Castronuova asserts claims against all defendants for violation of the First Amendment. Facebook committed promissory estoppel for not fulfilling its promise for Castronuova to use its platform for her business, the complaint alleged. She asserts intentional interference with a contract against Facebook and Twitter, plus tortious interference with a business relationship.

Among Castronuova’s prayers for relief are orders enjoining Murthy and Biden from directing social media companies to censor information with which they disagree, and enjoining them from directing social media companies to censor her speech; enjoining Facebook and Twitter from removing or suspending posts at the direction of Murthy and Biden; and from removing her posts or suspending her ability to post “because they disagree with the content of her posts on masks, COVID-19, or other highly debated topics of the day.”

The plaintiff also seeks damages from the social media platforms for alleged violation of her free speech rights and $10 million in compensatory damages resulting from lost income. She seeks compensatory damages for money she spent on Facebook advertisements and its “promissory estoppel,” and compensatory damages for time spent building a following on Facebook and Twitter “that has now been wasted” by their actions, plus attorneys’ fees and costs.