California Rep. Devin Nunes sues Twitter in $250M defamation case

March 19 (UPI) -- Rep. Devin Nunes is suing Twitter and three account holders for negligence and defamation, saying the social media platform explicitly censors viewpoints it disagrees with.

In the lawsuit, which was filed Monday with a Virginia state court, Nunes said Twitter generated and proliferated "false and defamatory statements" about him to influence the outcome of the 2018 election. He also said Twitter tried to intimidate and interfere with his investigation as a member of the House intelligence committee into Russia and Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.

"Twitter knowingly acted as a vessel of opposition research," the documents state.

Nunes seeks $350,000 in punitive damages and $250 million in compensatory damages. The suit also names as defendants political strategist Elizabeth A. Mair of Mair Strategies and two anonymous accounts, titled Devin Nunes' Mom and Devin Nunes' Cow.

The suit says the accounts were created for the sole purpose of tweeting and retweeting false and defamatory statements to "interfere with his duties, employment and investigations of corruptions as a United States Congressman."

Nunes said the Internet attacks were "pre-planned, calculated, orchestrated and undertaken" by several people for at least a year..

Mair tweeted shortly after the lawsuit was announced asking that visitors donate to her legal defense fund.

Twitter declined to comment, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.