Lawmaker suing Twitter, parodists

WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes of California is suing Twitter and several of its users for monetary damages, accusing them of defamation and negligence.

The defendants include two anonymous parody accounts, “Devin Nunes’ Mom” and “Devin Nunes’ Cow.”

The suit, filed in Henrico County Circuit Court in Virginia on Tuesday, accuses Twitter of “knowingly hosting and monetizing content that is clearly abusive, hateful and defamatory.”

Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act provides Internet services with immunity from liability for material posted by their users.

Nunes’ suit also accuses Twitter of censoring “viewpoints with which it disagrees” and “shadow-banning conservatives.” Shadow banning allows users to post freely, but no one else sees their messages. Twitter has denied doing it, although some political conservatives — including President Donald Trump — remain unconvinced.

Twitter declined to comment on the lawsuit. But in public statements, executives have denied any political bias or agendas. The lawsuit by Nunes had the perhaps unintended effect of sharply increasing the reach of @ DevinCow, the parody account that had around 1,200 followers before the lawsuit was filed. The account was up to 185,000 followers as of Tuesday evening.