Trump asks judge to reinstate YouTube account so he can 'continue selling merchandise': report

Attorneys for Donald Trump say YouTube's decision to ban the former president is causing "irreparable harm" to not only his potential future political candidacy, but also the Republican Party as a whole.

Trump's attorneys on Monday asked a federal judge in Florida to grant a preliminary injunction that would compel YouTube to reinstate his account, according to a report from the New York Post. Trump's attorneys reportedly plan similar motions seeking his reinstatement to Facebook and Twitter, as part of the class-action lawsuits he filed against the Big Tech companies last month.

"Notably, the injunction would allow Trump to continue selling merchandise on YouTube, potentially critical to political fundraising efforts," the Post reports. "Trump filed the suits in coordination with the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), which was founded by former members of his administration and was granted nonprofit status as a public charity by the IRS in May."

Trump's litigation against the Big Tech companies has been widely panned by experts, with critics accusing the former president of using the lawsuits to raise money from supporters. His lawsuit against YouTube and its parent company Alphabet claims that the ban violates his First Amendment rights, alleging the company was coerced to expel him by Democratic lawmakers, the Post reports.

The lawsuit also alleges the company is violating a Florida law allowing people to sue social media companies if they feel they've been "unfairly censored." However, a federal judge recently struck down that law as unconstitutional.

One of Trump's attorneys, AFPI's Katie Sullivan, told the Post that the Big Tech companies are applying their standards "inconsistently."

"They encourage users to become reliant on them as one of their main vehicles of communication and in many cases livelihood and now Defendants are choosing the winners and losers of society," Sullivan said.

"President Trump being taken down and the Taliban staying up on Twitter is kind of a perfect example," she added, echoing a Trump statement from earlier this week.

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