Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar & Twitter Sued For $88 Million

Democratic Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and the technological company Twitter are being sued for $88 million.

As Newsweek reported on Friday, a California man named Erik Estavillo sued Twitter and the progressive duo for banning President Donald Trump from the social network.

In the complaint, Estavillo — who is representing himself — argued that he and every “follower that was, without a doubt, emotionally and mentally damaged as a result of the president’s ban” is entitled to $88.7 million in damages.

In the lawsuit, Estavillo wrote that both Ocasio-Cortez and Omar need to be banned from Twitter and accused them of promoting “Eastern communist philosophies.”

Estavillo has “no friends” and can rarely leave the house, the complaint said, which is why he has relied on Twitter to participate in political discussions.

“The Americans with Disabilities Act should protect him from such egregious behavior on the part of Twitter. He has nowhere else to voice his First Amendment rights to free speech.”

According to Estavillo, Twitter has become a “virtual company town” which is why it should not be allowed to put limits on political speech.

In the lawsuit, he pointed to the Marsh vs. Alabama case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that certain public spaces — even those that are privately-owned — need to provide freedom of religion and speech.

Per the complaint, the plaintiff is a registered Democrat. In a statement supplied to The New York Post, Estavillo claimed to have voted for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in last year’s Democratic Party presidential primaries.

“We are not China and we shouldn’t aspire to be. Let’s do what’s right so we can all sleep well at the end of the day,” he told the outlet, stressing that his main goal is to protect the American people’s First Amendment rights online.

Estavillo reportedly plans on suing other social media platforms as well.

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Google, Amazon, TikTok, Reddit, Twitch, Shopify and Amazon Web Services have all banned Trump from their platforms.

The companies made the decision after the riots at the U.S. Capitol, claiming that Trump incited violence and inspired a group of his supporters to clash with law enforcement and storm the building.

Last week, after having his accounts purged from virtually all major social media sites, Trump floated the idea of launching his own platform.

The president said that he will “look at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future.”