Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Tulsi GabbardGabbard says Harris 'not qualified to serve as commander in chief' Politician targeted by Puerto Rican governor responds: 'This is an attack on all women' Puerto Ricans block major highway in protest of governor MORE (D-Hawaii), a 2020 presidential contender, is suing Google over claims that the tech behemoth violated her right to "free speech."

In a complaint filed Thursday with the central California federal court, Gabbard alleged Google censored her presidential campaign when it suspended their advertising account for several hours last month.

A Google spokeswoman pushed back on Gabbard's claims in a statement to The Hill, attributing the brief suspension to sudden "large spending changes" that set off Google's automated systems.

"We have automated systems that flag unusual activity on all advertiser accounts – including large spending changes – in order to prevent fraud and protect our customers," the spokeswoman said.

"In this case, our system triggered a suspension and the account was reinstated shortly thereafter."

Gabbard's lawsuit marks the first time a presidential contender has sued a large technology company over similar claims.

The Hawaii Democrat's principal campaign committee, Tulsi Now, Inc., is suing Google for violating her First Amendment rights along with a litany of violations under California law.

"With this lawsuit, Tulsi seeks to stop Google from further intermeddling in the 2020 United States Presidential Election," the complaint reads.

Few Democrats have gotten behind the charges, mostly passing them off as a right-wing talking point and pointing out there is little evidence beyond individual anecdotes to substantiate the claims.

In a statement, Gabbard's campaign pointed out that the suspension of her advertising account came shortly after the first debate last month, during which Gabbard was one of the most-searched Democrats.

"In the hours following the 1st debate, while millions of Americans searched for info about Tulsi, Google suspended her search ad account w/o explanation," the campaign said. "It is vital to our democracy that big tech companies can’t affect the outcome of elections."

--Updated 1:43 p.m.