A Delaware computer repairman has filed a $500 million lawsuit against Twitter for alleged defamation in response to the repairman’s involvement with Hunter Biden’s laptop, which became the subject of bombshell stories published by the New York Post ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
John Paul Mac Isaac of Wilmington, Delaware, is suing Twitter for defamation, claiming the platform had unfairly branded him a “hacker” via the platform’s censorship of a story by the New York Post on emails found on Hunter Biden’s alleged laptop, reports NY Post.
The news outlet had reported on damaging content found on a laptop that was left at Mac Isaac’s repair shop in April 2019. The laptop was never collected — until the repairman later turned the laptop over to the FBI as well as a copy of the hard drive which he gave to an attorney working with Rudy Giuliani.
In October, Twitter had censored the distribution of NY Post stories citing information found on Hunter Biden’s alleged laptop, labeling the articles as having violated the social media giant’s rules against posting content derived from “hacked materials.”
Following backlash, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey later admitted that the company was “wrong” to censor the NY Post‘s story on Hunter Biden.
“Straight blocking of URLs was wrong, and we updated our policy and enforcement to fix,” tweeted Dorsey. “Our goal is to attempt to add context, and now we have capabilities to do that.”
Straight blocking of URLs was wrong, and we updated our policy and enforcement to fix. Our goal is to attempt to add context, and now we have capabilities to do that. https://t.co/ZLUw3YD887
— jack (@jack) October 16, 2020
The computer repairman is now suing Twitter for defamation in a U.S. District Court, claiming the social media company’s “actions and statements had the specific intent to communicate to the world that [Mac Isaac] is a hacker.”
“Plaintiff is not a hacker and the information obtained from the computer does not [include] hacked materials because Plaintiff lawfully gained access to the computer, first with the permission of its owner, Biden, and then, after Biden failed to retrieve the hard drive despite Plaintiff’s requests, in accordance with the Mac Shop’s abandoned property policy,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit adds that as a result of this, Mac Isaac and his business have received threats, as well as negative reviews, and that he is “now widely considered a hacker.”
“Plaintiff, as a direct result of Defendant’s actions and statements is now widely considered a hacker and, on the same day Defendant categorized the Plaintiff as a hacker, Plaintiff began to receive negative reviews of his business as well as threats to his person and property,” the lawsuit reads.
“The term ‘hacker’ is widely viewed as disparaging, particularly when said about someone who owns a computer repair business,” the lawsuit adds.
Mac Isaac is demanding $500 million in damages, as well as a public retraction from Twitter.
The Justice Department is now investigating the finances of Hunter Biden, including scrutinizing some of his Chinese business dealings, and other transactions.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
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