Rich Penkoski of Warriors for Christ has gone round and round with Facebook for several years. The West Virginia pastor has been put on time-out multiple times, has had one popular page dismantled, has been shadow-banned and outright censored – all without explanation from the massive company.
So Penkoski and several others are suing Facebook and its "Big Social" colleagues. He contends the companies are hiding behind the infamous Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
"Section 230 was never meant to be used the way Facebook, Twitter and Google are using them," he states. "As a result, we have absolutely zero recourse against social media companies when they cause us harm – and we want that to change."
Like other Facebook users, when Penkoski signed up he promised not to upload pornographic or violent images and to abide by the rest of the company's rules. He points out that contract has two parties – and argues that Facebook is violating its own terms.
"Facebook has repeatedly said that they are offering a platform where we can have the free expression of ideas, and they won't censor [those ideas] based on political and religious ideology," he explains. "That's not true."
Chris Sevier is the counsel of record for the lawsuit. He tells One News that his clients' complaint differs from the one brought by former President Trump, who is suing the social media companies. Instead, this lawsuit is targeting the attorney general of the United States.
"If you want to have one of Congress' statutes nullified, [that's] the right party to sue … because that's the person who's tasked with enforcing Congress' law," Sevier states.
