WikiLeaks founder supports Twitter users' lawsuit against Trump

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has supported a lawsuit filed against US President Donald Trump by a group of Twitter users whom he blocked last week.

"I support this suit against Trump. It a constitutional violation for a state official to block political comments," Assange wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

He added that the "only exception" would be "if the user makes the same comment endlessly which would have the effect of denying others space to speak".

Last week, the group argued that Trump's Twitter account amounts to a public forum as he as a government official cannot bar people from.

The blocked users, represented by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, filed the suit against Trump, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Dan Scavino -- the White House Director of Social Media on Tuesday.

The group claimed that the President's blocking of users on the social network is "unconstitutional".

The suit asked Trump to unblock the users.

"Twitter enables ordinary citizens to speak directly to public officials and to listen to and debate others about public issues in the same way they could if they were gathered on a sidewalk or at a city council meeting," the lawsuit said.

By blocking people from reading his tweets, or from viewing and replying to message chains based on them, Trump was violating their First Amendment rights because they expressed views he did not like, the lawsuit stated.

--IANS

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