Facebook may have just stepped on a legal landmine amid an ongoing battle with journalist Laura Loomer - after the Silicon Valley giant claimed in a motion to dismiss Loomer's lawsuit that it can bar the political activist under their rights as a publisher, according to RT.

Notably, Facebook has long defined itself as a tech company which simply provides a platform for users' free speech - maintaining that they're a neutral party which is protected from legal repercussions.

"Under well-established law, neither Facebook nor any other publisher can be liable for failing to publish someone else’s message," reads the company's motion to dismiss Loomer's defamation lawsuit - adding that terms like "dangerous" or "promoting hate" cannot be factually verified, and are therefore protected opinions for a publisher according to the report. That said, the company claims it never applied either term to Loomer despite banning her under their "dangerous individuals" policy.

The company may have just stepped on a landmine, however. As RT notes: