Former lawyer sues Facebook, claims suppresion

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A former Kentucky lawyer has filed a lawsuit against Facebook, accusing it of committing fraud by suppressing his posts containing conservative viewpoints.

Eric Deters, a former lawyer in Ohio and Northern Kentucky, is an avid supporter of former President Donald Trump and filed his lawsuit after he said he discovered that his posts weren’t being properly displayed to the public.

“Facebook’s so-called ‘community standards’ are NOT community standards,” Deters wrote in his lawsuit, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. “They are WOKE, liberal progressive standards that are NOT consistent with the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky tristate community.”

Deters retired from practicing law in Ohio after his license to practice in Kentucky was suspended, according to the Kentucky Bar Association. The Kentucky Supreme Court denied his request to reinstate his license earlier this year, saying that he seems unwilling to follow the rules of being a lawyer.

“As we understand Deters’ concept of the practice of law, no rules of professional responsibility, no statute, no case law bind him. Deters’ practice of law is not governed by constitution, rule of law or procedure. It is anarchy,” the state supreme court wrote.

Deters is representing himself in the lawsuit, according to court records.

Facebook has yet to file a legal reply.

The lawsuit comes as Facebook faces increasing scrutiny for its methods of moderating content on its website. A former Facebook employee said this week that the company was only stopping a small amount of misinformation from getting onto its website. Both hate speech and misinformation were areas of concern before, during, and after the 2020 presidential election when political figures, including Trump, made baseless claims about the validity of the election.