A 76-year-old pro-life activist from Florida has filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging the tech giant violated state law by abruptly shutting down her account without warning or allowing her to save her data.
The Daily Mail reports that Trudy Perez-Poveda, a long-time Google account holder since 2012, has taken legal action against the company in Duval County Circuit Court, seeking to reverse the ban on her account. This lawsuit is believed to be the first of its kind in Florida following a Supreme Court decision that lifted an injunction blocking the state’s deplatforming law.
The dispute began in September when Perez-Poveda, who volunteers with a group called Family For Life, emailed members about a planned Mass outside a Jacksonville abortion clinic. Within an hour, she received notification from Google that her account had been suspended without explanation.
Over the next ten days, Perez-Poveda engaged in communication with Google, initially receiving indications that her service might be restored. However, the company ultimately informed her that her account had been permanently disabled for violating their acceptable use policy. When pressed for specifics about the violation, Google provided a vague response, citing security reasons for their inability to share the exact policy that was violated.
The loss of access to her account has been deeply impactful for Perez-Poveda. In her lawsuit, she likened the experience to “coming home to a house, which took me twelve years to furnish with family mementos and treasures, and find[ing] it completely empty without even a note explaining why.”
Perez-Poveda is receiving legal counsel from the Thomas More Society, a firm known for handling issues related to abortion. Matt Heffron, senior counsel at the Thomas More Society, expressed concern over what he perceives as a growing trend of censorship in the United States. He stated, “There is an ominous growth of censorship in this country. Large social-media companies act as a ‘digital public square,’ and play a central role in the debate of ideas.”
Heffron further emphasized that while Google has not explicitly stated that its actions were related to abortion or religious issues, it is a reasonable assumption given the context. He also noted that the company is required to provide an explanation for the suspension of Perez-Poveda’s account.
The lawsuit details how Perez-Poveda used her Google account for various activities, including her volunteer work with Family For Life, described as a group for “persons who pray, counsel and sometimes hold Catholic Mass and Eucharistic processions near abortion clinics.”
It’s worth noting that Perez-Poveda has been involved in controversy related to her anti-abortion activism in the past. In 2021, she was involved in an incident at A Woman’s Choice clinic where she was shoved to the ground by a 19-year-old patient after taking her photo. The teen was subsequently charged with battery on a person over 65.
Read more at the Daily Mail here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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