District Court, D. Massachusetts
He's an election truther, he did videos with Jim Hoft of Gateway House of Boys and gave his "expert" advice in several of the bogus hearings.
He also is an anti-vaxxer. Looks like Twitter had enough, his account was suspended in Feb: @va_shiva Account suspended
What's funny about this now is that his whole lawsuit is about Twitter and suspensions -- but as MA points out, the tweet they objected to was never removed. And it's highly, highly unlikely they contacted Twitter again; users can report content and must have since he was spreading tons of false election and COVID info.
https://www.indiawest.com/news/global_i ... 44365.htmlU.S. Senate Candidate Shiva Ayyadurai’s Twitter Account Suspended
India-West Staff Reporter Feb 8, 2021 0
Shiva Ayyadurai, an Indian American Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Massachusetts, has had his Twitter account suspended by the social media giant. According to various media reports, the Belmont resident and self-proclaimed creator of the email had his profile @va_shiva suspended for a violation of Twitter rules, his profile page read Feb. 4. His entire timeline of tweets and photos are gone, the reports noted.
Twitter did not specify why his account was suspended. Ayyadurai, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2018 and again in 2020, said he believes it is because he tweeted about Secretary of State William Galvin and Michelle Tassinari, the state's director of elections, reports said. "Twitter was coerced by the Government - Secretary of State Galvin and State Election Director Tassinari because I exposed TASSINARI violated Federal Law by deleting ballot images," Ayyadurai said in an email to local media outlets. "[It] forced Twitter to do this. Only the Secretary of State can & must restore my Twitter account; otherwise, we live in Putin's Russia or Communist China," the email continued.
Ayyadurai accused Tassinari of deleting a million electronic ballots during the 2020 Massachusetts primary and general election and filed a lawsuit against Galvin and Tassinari to that effect late last year. Galvin and Tassinari have denied the claim, noting the state's ballots are paper, the reports said. Ayyadurai has been accused of using social media to spread misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, including posting the virus has been spread by the "deep state" and can be treated with vitamin C. He accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of being a "Deep State Plant" and called for him to be fired, it said.
Ayyadurai was born in India. He holds four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including a Ph.D. in biological engineering. In his 2018 campaign against Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Ayyadurai appeared in a livestream with Matthew Colligan, who was photographed holding a torch and marching in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which has been widely condemned as supporting white supremacy. His campaign slogan in 2018 was "Only a real Indian can defeat a fake Indian," a reference to Warren's claim she is of Cherokee descent, the reports noted.
Here's background from Techdirt about the lawsuit: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20201 ... tion.shtml
Back in October, Shiva tried a TRO that MA wouldn't contact Twitter again about him. The judge decided that there might be some 1A issues, so he let it drag on:
Oct 29, 2020 Opposition re 2 First MOTION for Temporary Restraining Order (including memorandum) filed by William Francis Galvin. (Attachments: # 1 Affidavit of Debra O'Malley, # 2 Affidavit of Michelle K. Tassinari (with Exhibit))(Hornstine, Adam) (Entered: 10/29/2020)
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov ... 8.15.0.pdf
In December, MA filed a MTD: https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov ... 8.36.0.pdf
Shiva just filed a Second Amended Complaint (108 pages): https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov ... 8.78.0.pdf
Didn't get to read the new complaint yet, but in his previous Complaint, he did a whole big song & dance about how carefully he marketed and curated his Twitter feed for 10 years or something, and that the world would come to an end if he was banned. Well dude, doesn't look like it ended. He also has this bizarre theory that he kept posting (this is what got him in trouble) that "MA destroyed over a million ballots". They explained repeatedly that it wasn't true, and several fact check groups smacked him down. The spreading of this misinformation is what led MA Elections to report it to Twitter (State Election officers have special access to a reporting portal).
https://apnews.com/article/fact-checkin ... 9472752830Massachusetts primary ballots were not destroyed
By JUDE JOFFE-BLOCK
September 28, 2020 GMT
CLAIM: Massachusetts destroyed over 1 million ballots and committed election fraud. Ballot images that must be saved for 22 months are nowhere to be found.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Physical ballots have not been destroyed. They are being stored for 22 months as required by federal law. Massachusetts election officials do not capture and preserve ballot images when they tabulate votes. They are not required to do so.
THE FACTS: No Senate ballots have been destroyed in Massachusetts, according to Debra O’Malley, a spokesperson for Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Galvin. “The ballots, as required by law, are still under seal in each of the 351 local election offices,” O’Malley told The Associated Press. A federal statute requires election officials to preserve for 22 months “all records and papers which come into his possession relating to any application, registration, payment of poll tax, or other act requisite to voting” for elections for federal races.
Yet even as state election officials have made clear physical ballots have been preserved, Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, who lost in the Massachusetts Republican Senate primary earlier this month, is making the misleading claim that the state committed election fraud by destroying over 1 million “ballots.” In a tweet that was picked up by the right-wing site,The Gateway Pundit and has been shared on Facebook, he wrote, “Massachusetts Destroys Over 1 MILLION Ballots in US SENATE PRIMARY RACE committing #ElectionFraud. MA Elections Attorney confirms to #Shiva4Senate ballot images - used for counting votes - that MUST be saved by FEDERAL LAW for 22 months are nowhere to be found!”
O’Malley called Ayyadurai’s Sept. 24 tweet election misinformation. In an email exchange with the AP, Ayyadurai did not dispute that election officials have preserved physical ballots. His argument is that state election officials acted improperly by not preserving ballot images when the ballots were counted and scanned -- and that ballot images should be considered “ballots.” “Pursuant to chain of custody, the ballot image IS the ballot, and destroying these ballots is illegal by Federal Law,” Ayyadurai wrote in an e-mail.
Massachusetts election equipment does not capture and preserve ballot images when it tabulates votes, said O’Malley. State statutes bar anyone from re-examining ballots outside of a recount, post-election audit or court order. “Because of those statutes...our certified tabulator vendors are instructed to turn that functionality off on equipment used in Massachusetts,” O’Malley told the AP. Charles Stewart, an elections expert and political science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said federal law does not require the preservation of ballot images, just physical ballots.
Docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/18 ... -v-galvin/
This dude is such a jerk and idiot that he's been a little pet project... but hadn't thought of him lately and hadn't seen he got the hammer on Twitter. That's pretty delightful, Jim Hoft of the Gateway House of Boys is also suspended. Guess they will be front and center on Frank, Mike Lindell's new service. When they spread more election and COVID lies, wonder what Frank will do about it?36 Dec 9, 2020 MOTION TO DISMISS FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM, MOTION to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction ( Responses due by 12/23/2020) by William Francis Galvin, Debra O'Malley, Michelle K. Tassinari.(Hornstine, Adam) (Entered: 12/09/2020) Main Document Dismiss/Lack of Jurisdiction AND Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim
***omitted some entries here***
63 Feb 19, 2021 Judge Mark L. Wolf: MEMORANDUM AND ORDER. It is hereby ORDERED that plaintiff shall, by February 26, 2021, report whether he requests leave to file an amended complaint adding Twitter as a defendant and, if so, file an affidavit and memorandum in support of that motion. See Rule 7.1(b)(2) of the Local Rules of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Defendants shall, by March 8, 2021, respond to any such motion. (Loret, Magdalena) (Entered: 02/19/2021)
***omitted some entries here***
75 Mar 25, 2021 Judge Mark L. Wolf: ORDER entered. It is hereby ORDERED that Plaintiff shall by April 7, 2021, file his proposed Second Amended Complaint with Twitter as a Defendant, serve it on Twitter, and report when Twitter has been served. Twitter shall within 10 days of being served, state whether or not it wishes to respond to the Motion, and, if so, do so 10 days thereafter.( proposed second amended complaint due by 4/7/2021.)(Montes, Mariliz) (Entered: 03/26/2021) Main Document Order
76 Mar 31, 2021 Judge Mark L. Wolf: ELECTRONIC ORDER entered granting 72 Motion for Leave to File Reply to Opposition by Shiva Ayyadurai. Counsel using the Electronic Case Filing System should now file the document for which leave to file has been granted in accordance with the CM/ECF Administrative Procedures. Counsel must include - Leave to file granted on (date of order)- in the caption of the document. (Loret, Magdalena) (Entered: 03/31/2021) Main Document
77 Apr 4, 2021 REPLY to Response to 64 MOTION for Joinder filed by Shiva Ayyadurai. (Ayyadurai, Shiva) (Entered: 04/04/2021) Main Document Reply to Response to Motion
78 Apr 6, 2021 AMENDED COMPLAINT PROPOSED SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT against All Defendants, filed by Shiva Ayyadurai.(Ayyadurai, Shiva) (Entered: 04/06/2021) Main Document Amended Complaint
79 Apr 7, 2021 Main Document Status Report