Twitter sues Texas Attorney General Paxton, arguing his probe is to 'retaliate' for Trump ban

Twitter has filed a federal lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, arguing he used his office in January to retaliate against the tech giant for having banned then-President Trump.

Paxton announced on Jan. 13, several days after Twitter permanently banned Trump, an investigation into the social media platform and other tech companies' potentially "discriminatory and biased policies and practices."

Twitter said Monday in its legal filing: "Paxton made clear that he will use the full weight of his office, including his expansive investigatory powers, to retaliate against Twitter for having made editorial decisions with which he disagrees," according to the Associated Press.

The back-and-forth comes amid social media companies increasingly censuring content, and conservatives arguing they are being unfairly targeted. 

Paxton's investigation also targets Amazon Web Services, Apple, Facebook and Google and asked for operating and editorial policies.

The investigation also seeks to learn how and why Amazon, Apple and Google has stops services to the on the social media app Parler, popular with conservatives.

"The public deserves the truth about how these companies moderate and possibly eliminate speech they disagree with," Paxton said in a statement. "I am hopeful that these companies will set aside partisan politics and cooperate with these CIDs in order to get to the bottom of this contention and ensure a truly free online community consistent with the highest American ideals."