Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California filed a lawsuit against Twitter Inc., among other defendants, for "knowingly hosting and monetizing content that is clearly abusive, hateful and defamatory."

In a March 18 filing with the Circuit Court for the County of Henrico, Va., Nunes claimed that Twitter ignored complaints and failed to enforce its rules and regulate two accounts, "Devin Nunes' Mom" and "Devin Nunes' cow" that posted derogatory and offensive tweets about him.

Nunes further claimed that the company intended to generate and proliferate the "false and defamatory statements" to allegedly influence the 2018 Congressional election. The plaintiff also accused the company of "shadow-banning" conservatives, and "eliminating his voice while amplifying the voices of his Democratic detractors," according to the filing posted on Scribd.com.

The plaintiff is seeking a trial by jury, in addition to $250 million in compensatory damages and punitive damages of $350,000.