Apple Urges Dismissal of Suit Making First Amendment Claims
Apple seeks the dismissal of the class action that names 11 defendants and alleges the Biden administration colluded with social media to suppress right-leaning speech and content, said its motion Tuesday (docket 2:22-cv-09438) in U.S. District Court for Central California…
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in Los Angeles. Nowhere in the plaintiffs’ 405-paragraph “airing of grievances is there even a kernel of a claim” against Apple, said the motion. The complaint “reveals a complete misunderstanding (or outright contortion) of the First Amendment and this nation’s bedrock anti-discrimination laws,” it said. There are no factual allegations that Apple “censored so much as a single word” of anyone’s speech, it said. Nor does the complaint “allege any instance of Apple unlawfully discriminating against anyone, let alone a protected class of speakers, voters, or consumers,” it said. There also are no allegations “causally connecting any alleged wrongful conduct by Apple to any cognizable injury” suffered by any plaintiff, it said. Because the plaintiffs fail to demonstrate Article III standing, “every cause of action against Apple should be dismissed with prejudice,” it said. The complaint comes nowhere close “to alleging facts sufficient to transform Apple from a private company into a federal government actor,” which forecloses the plaintiffs’ First Amendment claim, it said. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act bars each of the plaintiffs’ claims because the complaint “admittedly seeks to hold Apple liable for its supposed publication decisions concerning third-party content,” it said.