Computer repair shop owner quoted in a controversial New York Post The story is suing Twitter for defamation, claiming that its content moderation choices falsely classified it as a hacker.
John Paul Mac Isaac was the owner of The Mac Shop, a Delaware computer repair company. In October, the New York Post reported that The Mac Shop was paid to recover data from a laptop belonging to Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and published emails and photos allegedly from a copy of the hard drive. After Posts the origin and conclusions were contested, Facebook and Twitter restricted the scope of the article and Twitter cited as an explanation their ban on posting “hacked materials”.
Mac Isaac says that Twitter specifically made the decision to “communicate to the world that [Mac Isaac] is a hacker. ”He says his business started receiving threats and negative reviews after Twitter’s moderation decision, and that he is” now widely considered a hacker “because of Twitter.
Unlike many lawsuits against social media companies, Mac Isaac is not specifically complaining that Twitter removed content – a choice that would likely be protected by the First Amendment. Nor is he claiming that other people defamed him through Twitter, a strategy pursued unsuccessfully by Rep. Devin Nunes of California. Her lawsuit mirrors that of conservative activist Laura Loomer, who sued Facebook for banning her under a policy of “dangerous individuals”. (Loomer’s case was voluntarily dismissed in August.) Basically, his argument is based on the fact that Twitter said that New York Post The report was based on hacked material and, by extension, maliciously implied that he was a hacker.
Twitter loosely defines “hacking” to include obtaining unauthorized documents and did not name a specific individual as a “hacker”. O Post he said that he obtained his files indirectly through Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer, Trump’s lawyer, who in turn obtained them from Mac Isaac. Some critics of the Post he speculated that Russian disinformation agents planted e-mails, which would not blame Mac Isaac. (These criticisms have not been corroborated.)
The complaint cites several negative business reviews that criticize Mac Isaac based on the facts of the Post history – but it’s not clear why Twitter should be held responsible for these reviews. Twitter also declared a day later that Posts communicating not violate its “hacked materials” policy, part of a rapid series of political changes surrounding the saga.
However, Mac Isaac is demanding $ 500 million and a public retraction from Twitter. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.