Devin Nunes' cow Twitter lawsuit has already backfired

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

published 20 March 2019

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) literally did this to himself.

Just two days ago, the congressman decided to sue a parody Twitter account called @DevinCow because it was apparently spreading misinformation to its 1,200 followers. Now, largely thanks to Nunes' own self-raised stink, that cow has a lot more followers than Nunes himself.

In his Monday lawsuit, Nunes sued the entirety of Twitter for $250 million, saying it "shadow banned" conservatives, including himself, ahead of the 2018 midterms. That term refers to some Twitter users' favorite conspiratorial excuse for why their content is allegedly being hidden, as Nunes inartfully explained to Fox News' Sean Hannity after filing the suit. Nunes' suit also said accounts like @DevinCow and @DevinNunesMom served him "an orchestrated defamation campaign of stunning breadth and scope, one that no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life." Really.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox