Twitter filed a lawsuit Monday in an attempt to end a civil investigation that it said was started by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in retaliation for the company banning Donald Trump from its platform.
Following the Capitol riots in January, Paxton announced he was investigating Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon Web Services and Apple for the “seemingly coordinated de-platforming of the President of the United States and several leading voices.” As part of the investigation, Paxton sought documents regarding each of the companies’ “policies and practices regarding content moderation.”
In its lawsuit Monday, Twitter argued that having to reveal the “highly confidential documents” to the public “would undermine their effectiveness, and compromise Twitter’s ability to effectively and efficiently moderate content on its platform.”
“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,” Twitter said in the lawsuit.
The company said it believes it is protected by the First Amendment and is now asking a judge to put an end to the investigation.
Paxton announced last December that he was going after Google for using “deceptive” ad practices to manipulate ad auctions and drive up the price digital advertisers pay.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.