Banned By Twitter, Founder Of Project Veritas Vows to Sue

MAMARONECK, NY — After his Twitter account was suspended, the founder and CEO of Mamaroneck-based Project Veritas wasted little time issuing a fiery response, promising a lawsuit would be filed by Monday.

“I am suing Twitter for defamation because they said I, James O’Keefe, ‘operated fake accounts,’" O'Keefe said in a statement posted on the Project Veritas website. "This is false, this is defamatory, and they will pay. Section 230 may have protected them before, but it will not protect them from me. The complaint will be filed Monday.”

The Twitter accounts for both Project Veritas and Project Veritas Action were suspended earlier this month, according to the Hudson Valley conservative media company founded in 2011.

O'Keefe indicated he would not be suing because of the suspension of the account, but will instead seek damages for defamation based on the public posts from Twitter listing the reasons the account was being suspended. O'Keefe contends that because the listed violations of Twitter rules he is accused of are untrue, the publicly viewable statements amount to libel.

Twitter initially suspended the account for violations of its policies that included accusations that O'Keefe was using multiple fake accounts to artificially amplify his Tweets. The conservative media star unequivocally denied the charge.

In a statement linking the permanent Twitter suspensions to a series of undercover tapes the company recently released about CNN, Project Veritas notes that the @JamesOKeefelll Twitter account was nearing one million followers when it was shut down.

According to the conservative media company, "Project Veritas investigates and exposes corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in both public and private institutions to achieve a more ethical and transparent society." Project Veritas undercover video recordings have created controversy not only for apparently exposing misdeeds by often high power targets, but have also led to allegations the videos themselves employed misleading editing and inappropriate out-of-context hidden camera interviews.