Facebook, Twitter, Google sued by Orlando shooting victims' families
Facebook, Twitter, Google sued by Orlando shooting
victims' families
By Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY 9:19 a.m. EST December 20,
2016
Families of three Orlando shooting victims are suing
these tech giants
The civil lawsuit claims Facebook, Twitter and Google
allowed ISIS to use the social networks to spread extremist propaganda.
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook, Google and Twitter are being
sued by the families of three victims slain in the mass shooting at an Orlando
nightclub for allegedly providing "material support" to the Islamic
State.
The lawsuit, first reported by Fox News, was filed Monday
in federal court in the eastern district of Michigan on behalf of the families
of Tevin Crosby, Javier Jorge-Reyes and Juan Ramon Guerrero.
The lawsuit is the latest to target popular Internet services
for making it too easy for the Islamic State to spread its message. In June,
the family of a California college student killed in last year's terrorist attacks in Paris sued
Facebook, Google and Twitter. Keith Altman, the attorney representing the three
families in the Orlando nightclub lawsuit, also represents the family of that
student, Nohemi Gonzalez, in the Paris terrorist attacks lawsuit.
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, uses
popular Internet services such as Facebook, Twitter and Google's YouTube to
spread propaganda, to attract and train new recruits, to celebrate terrorist
attacks and publicize executions.
Earlier this month, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and
Twitter said they would share a database of terror images and videos to more
quickly remove terrorism content.
Omar Mateen opened fire inside Orlando's Pulse nightclub
in June, killing 49 patrons and injuring 53 others in one of the deadliest
shooting sprees in U.S. history. A 29-year-old security guard who pledged his
allegiance to ISIS, Mateen was not a member of the terrorist group but had been
inspired by it.
"Without Defendants Twitter, Facebook, and Google
(YouTube), the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most
feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible," the
lawsuit alleges.
Facebook declined to comment. Google and Twitter did not
respond to requests for comment.
The biggest hurdle the lawsuit faces is a federal law
that shields publishers from liability for the speech of others.
In an interview, Altman said Facebook, Google and Twitter
should be held liable for what users post on their services because they pair
content with advertising.
"They create unique content by combining ISIS
postings with advertisements in a way that is specifically targeted at the
viewer," the lawsuit alleges. "Defendants share revenue with ISIS for
its content and profit from ISIS postings through advertising revenue."
Earlier this month, Altman revised his lawsuit on behalf
of Gonzalez's family to allege there, too, that the companies created
"original content."
"Although defendants have not created the posting,
nor have they created the advertisement, defendants have created new unique
content by choosing which advertisement to combine with the posting," the
lawsuit contends.
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