America First Legal sues private groups for allegedly conspiring with government to censor speech

The America First Legal Foundation on Tuesday filed a federal class action lawsuit against people and entities that allegedly conspired with the government to target millions of conservative Americans in a mass censorship and surveillance operation.

The lawsuit targets those associated with the Election Integrity Partnership, which partnered with government agencies to censor online posts they considered misinformation during the 2020 election, and the Virality Project, a coalition of groups focused on responding to purported COVID-19 misinformation.

America First Legal, a nonprofit led by former top-ranking Trump administration officials, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft and Health Freedom Louisiana Co-Director Jill Hines.

The lawsuit states that both Hoft and Hines are experiencing "extensive censorship," including on issues related to COVID-19 and elections.

America First Legal President Stephen Miller said the defendants "created a regime of surveillance, censorship, and control fit for communist China" by allegedly "flagging content and creators for government entities so that those entities, in turn, would pressure platforms to remove that content or those creators."

The lawsuit demands for the defendants to stop their "ongoing unlawful conduct" and calls for compensatory and punitive damages to be awarded.

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.