CA court rejects appeal of Twitter ban over transphobic tweets

SAN FRANCISCO – A California appeals court ruled that Twitter has the right to ban a Canadian writer for “hateful” tweets about trans women.

42-page published opinion It upheld the rejection of the 2019 trial of Meghan Murphy, founder, writer, journalist, and founder of the Canadian-based Feminist Current website, published by the First District Court of Appeals late last month. Murphy was banned for tweets referring to a transgender woman as “male” – in a post that tagged her – and accused her of extortion for complaining against aestheticians who refused to make Brazilian wax.

Murphy had been locked out of his account for tweeting earlier, “How men are not women” and “How are trans women not men? What is the difference between a man and a trans woman?” He argued that President Donald Trump should be repealed or reorganized late last year.

The appellate court sided with Twitter and found that high courts consistently upheld a social media site’s ability to ban users for certain conversations. He also found that Twitter’s mission to “empower everyone to instantly create and share ideas and information without barriers” does not mean a legal promise that it will not ban users for violating the hateful behavior policy.

“Murphy has not claimed that Twitter will not directly remove content to himself or others from their platform or block access to their account, but expressly reserves the right to remove content, including content that they determine to be abusive. In the event of suspension or dissolution, Murphy cannot claim reasonable confidence in the words alleged as a matter of law, ”Judge Sandra L. Margulies wrote of the decision signed by the other two judges.

Margulies later wrote that Murphy’s arguments about Twitter’s policy change were “attacks on Twitter’s interpretation and enforcement of its own general policies, rather than the violation of a particular word.”