Congressional Candidate Laura Loomer Files FEC Complaint Against Twitter For Providing In-Kind Corporate Contributions to Her Opponent

Republican Congressional Candidate Laura Loomer has filed a formal Federal Election Commission complaint against Twitter for providing in-kind corporate contributions to her opponent, Democrat Congresswoman Lois Frankel, by censoring her from the platform.

Loomer, 26, is one of the most banned political commentators, and now candidates for office, in the nation — having been kicked off Twitter, Facebook, Uber, Lyft, PayPal, GoFundMe, and other platforms for her fierce and controversial criticism of Islam.

Laura is currently running for office in Florida’s 21st district — which happens to be the voting residence of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania.

In December, Twitter announced that they would be verifying all congressional and gubernatorial candidates to “level the playing field.” When asked by The Gateway Pundit if the new policy meant they would reinstate banned candidates, specifically citing Loomer, they said no and that anyone who was permanently suspended will not be reinstated, verified or labeled.

Loomer’s campaign website explains that by keeping her off the platform, Twitter is providing her opponent with a “significant benefit.”

On Monday, Loomer fought back by filing a first-of-its-kind complaint against the Big Tech giant.

“This is a first-of-its-kind complaint and takes into account the influential role that social media corporations play in our elections,” Charlie Spies, counsel for Laura Loomer for Congress, said in a statement.

Spies continued, “Once Ms. Loomer became a federal candidate, it became illegal for Twitter to ban her while providing free access to her Democrat opponent. Corporate owned public forums like Twitter must either provide equal time and access for all candidates for public office, or charge market value. Twitter should not be exempt from Equal Time laws, and a violation like the one occurring with Ms. Loomer is an impermissible in-kind corporate contribution to her opponent.”

The lawsuit cites TGP’s reporting on Twitter’s refusal to reinstate her account, as well as reports about their bias against conservatives and shadow banning of right-wing voices.

“Twitter has become a primary method of communication for candidates and elected officials to speak directly to their supporters without the filter of the media. President Trump proved this in 2016 and continues the practice today. Twitter’s continued ban against Laura Loomer, prevents her campaign from having equal access that is required under the law,” Spies statement concluded.

Loomer has gained wide mainstream support, including being endorsed by Fox News’ Judge Jeanine Pirro, Michelle Malkin, and many others. President Trump has even retweeted a call for donations to her campaign.

“It’s time to challenge Twitter and put an end to what amounts to blatant election interference. While Democrats want to distract Americans with cries of ‘Russian Bots’ and ‘Fake News’ as influencing our elections, Jack Dorsey and his staff at Twitter are overtly giving massive benefits to Democrat candidates, including my opponent, Rep. Lois Frankel,” Loomer said in a statement about the complaint.

The feisty candidate has also inspired a bill to stop political censorship by Big Tech platforms. The bill, introduced last week by Florida State Senator Joe Gruters, awards a minimum of $75,000 in damages against social media companies that “deletes or censors the user’s religious speech or political speech; or uses an algorithm to disfavor or censure the user’s religious speech or political speech.” It will also bar tech platforms from using “the social media website user’s alleged hate speech as a basis for justification or defense of the social media website’s actions at trial.”

Loomer has previously worked as an undercover journalist for Project Veritas and is best known for conducting ambush interviews and staging political stunts to call attention to the issues she is concerned about. Her campaign website notes that she has confronted Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Huma Abedin, James Comey, Maxine Waters, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Michael Avenatti, Tim Kaine, Linda Sarsour, Alyssa Milano, and former DNC chair Keith Ellison.

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