This story was originally produced by Seacoastonline. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Teatotaller cafe owner Emmett Soldati and Facebook had another day in court last week when a hearing on the merits of Soldati's five-year-old case was heard by Judge Sawako Gardner.
Soldati was in Dover District Court on Wednesday for his case against Meta, Facebook and Instagram's parent company, for deleting the Instagram account of his business in June 2018 without giving a reason. The case was remanded back to the Dover court in a July 2020 decision by the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
"I am exhausted," Soldati said. "It has been five years for what could have been a simple decision. Every time we are here, I am gaslighted as they (Facebook) keep changing their arguments. All I wanted in the beginning is for them to clarify why they did this. When we asked what the violation was, they could not tell me, said they didn't know. How do they not know?"
Soldati marketed Teatotaller's Somersworth location on Instagram, which is owned by Meta/Facebook. Soldati has claimed Facebook’s deletion of Teatotaller’s Instagram account breached his business’ advertising contract with the platform. (Soldati has since opened a new Teatotaller location in Concord and closed the Somersworth location.)
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